Strange Things
by Wintertrain
Summary: Even the Gods make mistakes sometimes. Aria Schmidt thought she was just another daughter of Apollo until she is sent on a quest to find the "misclaimed demigod" with Will Solace and Katie Gardner. Everything can change before your own eyes.
1. Chapter 1

_You can do this, Aria,_ I tell myself, examining the blazing climbing wall.

Now, don't think I'm some girl who is trying her hand at climbing this death trap for the first time. I've done this every day during every summer for the past eight years – I even have eight camp beads to prove it. But after coming home to Camp Half-Blood after a long school year of normal and boring, you kind of forget how much fun it is to be constantly in danger, you know? And you have to throw yourself at the danger for you to remember why you love it so much, I've discovered.

The kid next to me, Bruce, stands up and trudges over to the wall, looking up towards the top the whole way. He gets his foot in the first slot available and starts going up, shaking a little and trying desperately not to fall or get burnt to a crisp – you choose which is the better option. His siblings, several people from the Athena cabin, cheer him on, and I occasionally clap a little. But I'm pretty distraught at the thought of suddenly become a dangerous teenager living on the edge after months of cautious actions.

_This is going to be so easy, Aria. You've been doing this for years! There's no way you'll become tomorrow's lunch after being burnt into a fried Aria,_ a voice in my head tells me, and I perk up a little. I'm right. I can totally do this.

But then Bruce's arm is suddenly engulfed in flames, and he lets go of the wall in his panic, falling and receiving third-degree burns in the process.

Well, that couldn't be any more inconvenient if the Gods tried.

Some of my siblings, the Apollo kids, gather him up in a stretcher and take him away to the infirmary. "Goodie," I say, getting up to face what is my apparent doom.

Gods, am I paranoid.

I look over towards the line of my siblings standing nearby, waiting for another person to be injured. I find Will Solace in the crowd and say, "Please tell me that he was just clumsy and that I'm not going to fall off of the wall."

Will rolls his eyes. "Aria, you've kind of been here for eight years. He's been here for a week. I think you'll be fine."

I nervously twist one of the beads on my necklace. "Well, if I fall off, I'm blaming it on you!"

"First your bro, now your fall-guy?" Will asks. "Harsh."

I now roll my eyes. "Shut up, Will. I need to go fall off a wall, if you'll excuse me."

I stand in front of the towering wall, repeating the chorus to _Big Girls Don't Cry_ in my head to give me the courage I can never seem to find when I really want to have it. I wipe my sweaty palms on the front of my jean shorts and step up to the wall, placing one hand carefully on it. When my hand is secure, I put the other one up higher. My feet go onto the footholds instinctively, and I can feel my memory of how to navigate this deathtrap coming back as I scale up. After a few minutes of dodging the spikes and the lava that never seems to stop flowing out of the wall, I reach the top and climb down with ease. I can hear my siblings cheering me on, and when I come out from behind the wall, Will sticks his tongue out at me. "Told you so," he says, triumphantly.

I punch his arm. "Lucky for you, I can't push you into the lava because then we'd have no counselor."

"There are some perks of being the second replacement in two years," he says.

I roll my eyes and leave the climbing wall, my adrenaline from the climb screaming in my ears. _Hey, you. Yeah, you. You want strawberries right about now_, my brain tells me, causing me to end up at the endless fields of the red fruit.

I sit in the one lucky row of my choice and quietly hum a tune that is one of my favorites – _Welcome to the Black Parade_. Other campers soon come by, some to do their next activity of the day, some escaping from the ones they have, and some just to have a free snack. Eventually all of my siblings gather in the fields, carrying wicker baskets and delicately picking the fruits. Will sees me and comes to my row.

"I see you got an early start," he says sarcastically, tossing a look at the ground where my basket should be.

"I've never been one for working on the first day of camp, and you know it." I stand from my spot and brush off any stray dirt, walking to his side to help him fill his basket.

"Hey! I want to be the only one who gets credit for this stupendous basket!" he says, laughing and pulling his basket away from me.

"'Stupendous'?" I quote. His word choice doesn't surprise me, since he is a fellow child of the God of poetry, but his basket is just average. Nothing stupendous about it.

He picks a strawberry off of a stem and shows it to me. It's bruised and moldy and obviously needs to be thrown away. "Because while you were gone, I learned how to do," he starts, closing his eyes and placing his cupped hand over the strawberry, "this!" He takes his hand off of the fruit and before my eyes the mold shrinks until it's gone. The berry gets bigger and the bruises shrink, creating a perfect strawberry, fit for the gods.

"Every basket I've turned in since March has been perfect, and I'm certainly not sharing the glory with you, Aria," he says, dropping it in the basket.

"Lucky for you, I don't like right next to a freaking huge strawberry field that I'm forced to harvest," I say, rolling my eyes at his desperate show of his powers.

We've been having this battle for years. We've been secretly finding one special thing that we can do and working on it all throughout the year, showing each other at the beginning of the summer. It was usually a back and forth type of winning situation. I won last year, Will the year before, myself the year before that. I'm pretty determined to beat him this year.

The one problem now is that I kind of haven't figured out what to do.

We pick some more strawberries, Will putting his in his basket and myself holding them up with the end of my Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. When we're done with the row, we head towards the gate to the camp, and I grab a random basket that was left in the middle of the field to store my berries in. We drop the baskets off with all the others and head off towards the mess hall for lunch.

**Yay! I've been trying to find something that I can write about for PJO, and I've finally, **_**finally**_** figured it out! I'm seriously hoping I actually get something done with this story, or it's back to the drawing board. And if you want to read a Hunger Games story, you should totally read mine – just saying. Thank you all!**


	2. Chapter 2

Will finishes his story about the Stoll Brothers, who replaced all the mattresses in the Ares cabin just to improve their chances of winning capture the flag, when we reach the mess hall. Instantly the smell of sweaty campers hits my nose, and I feel a little grossed out but mostly nostalgic. We both sit across from each other in the center of the Apollo table.

"Hi Aria!"

"Welcome back, home dog!"

"The Aria-mister is home!"

Pretty much everyone at the table yelled something at me when I sat. I laughed a little at the nicknames and rolled my eyes. A thin body slips into the seat next to me, and I don't even have to look over to know who it is.

"Katie," I say while waving to my eight-year-old sister.

"How was Columbus?" she says, making it sound like my hometown is the most exciting place on the planet.

"The usual. Normal, boring, school was hard, made it to All-State again." I say, looking at her.

"I'm surprised that you've gone three years in a row. You're one out of hundreds of thousands in Ohio, and yet you're better than the rest," she says, amazed.

"It's a perk of being a daughter of the God of music," I say, shrugging it off. "And you might want to get back to your table before Dionysus finds you or something. Gods know what happened to the last kid who was caught at someone else's table," I say, trying to make myself sound as spooky as possible.

Katie rolls her eyes. "That kid is still here, stupid."

I kiss my fingertips and wave to her as she walks away. "Love you too, Katie-Watie!"

I turn back to Will. "I'm pretty sure you'd be dead by now if you two were actually related," he says, laughing.

I nod. "Every day for the past eight years, living with Katie – that's pretty unfathomable. Plus, I'd have to be nice to her or else Dad would be pretty angry. And Gods plus angry equals dead demigods."

Will laughs. "Dad's too cool for that," he says.

"Well, I wouldn't know," I say, narrowing my eyes. "I've never met him!"

He holds his hands up in a universal _whoa there_ sign. Chiron announces Apollo cabin for lunch, and I gratefully get up, suddenly starved. I pick out grilled cheese and leftover bacon from breakfast – lets be real, bacon is good any time of the day – and walk back to my spot. On the way, I go to the brazier and throw in half of my grilled cheese, silently thinking, _Apollo. What's up dog? Miss me?_

I grab the goblet that came while I was gone and say, "Orange Fanta, please?" It instantly fills.

I nearly forget every time that I come back to Ohio from camp that not all cups are enchanted to refill and get whatever you want to drink. I had to explain to my mom after I came home that how they worked and that I'd probably end up doing my camp drink routine for several days, if not weeks. Camp leaves that much of an imprint on you.

Will sits back down and asks for sweet iced tea. I snort. "What a girl," I mumble.

"At least I'm being somewhat healthy," he says, triumphantly taking a sip of his drink. He looks away for a moment to search for an unknown thing, and while his back is turned, I whisper to his goblet to switch drinks to his least favorite.

He turns back and gives me a questioning look, but I innocently smile. He cautiously lifts his goblet to his lips, and starts sputtering. "Irn Bru!" he screams, drawing some attention to his disgust and my amusement. I break out into laughter. "Gotcha!" I say in my fit of comedic giggles.

"Aria, you know I hate that stuff!" he says, muttering for the drink to change again and washing away the lingering taste.

"I have to reclaim my title as the lost Stoll Sister," I say, smirking and shrugging. "I do enjoy lots of things those boys do."

Will doesn't talk for a few minutes and continuously throws back more and more ice tea, and I eat my bacon. I talk a little with my siblings and cast glances towards Katie, making faces. I look back at Will, still cleansing his throat of the disgusting concoction I slipped him. Then back at Katie, who starts wiggling her eyebrows, quite seductively. I roll my eyes and stick out my tongue at her. Chiron dismisses us, telling us that we have a few minutes to get to our next activity.

Lucky for me, Apollo cabin has to go the amphitheatre next. Nothing really happens at the amphitheatre, so it's practically our break for the day. We all make our way over, and although there weren't many people in front of me, I could hear the sounds of instruments tuning in the distance. I pick up the pace, hoping to get there in time for one of the Apollo cabin's famous jam sessions. Usually Will and I lead it, but since Will is obviously handicapped due to his improper intake of drinks, I'll be on my own today. I reach the Greek-style open theatre and go behind the curtain of the stage, finding my instrument's case right in front of me. I open the case, and pull out a glimmering flute, carved with famous scenes of Greek mythology and battles. It was a present from my cabin to me for my fifteenth birthday two years ago. Will was in charge of figuring out what I should get, and he thought it would be handy for me to have multiple flutes instead of lugging one back and forth between Mom's place and camp.

I get up to the front of the stage, and several people are still tuning. I wait a moment and step up to the stand that is conveniently in front of me, my arm rising to indicate that I have no idea that in Hades we're playing. A little murmur of understanding that we're improvising now goes through the neat rows of random instruments, and then it gets silent. I start conducting at a fast pace, and they just go along with it. The clarinets rip through the band, obviously proclaiming themselves as the melody while everyone else instinctively backs down for the two minutes we play. _It's nonsense that sounds about twenty times better than Ohio's All-State Band_, I think. When we stop and I cut them all off, I say, "Why can't you guys just come home with me and replace all of my high school's band? I'd love you forever if you did." A little laugh circulates the cabin.

A loud clap comes from the back of the amphitheatre, and I turn to see who it is. Chiron stands on all fours in the back, standing on the stairs because he obviously can't fit in any of the seats. "Very good," he says, smiling. "But, unfortunately for you all, I need to steal Aria from you. Keep up the good work!"

I'm taken a little aback, but don't hesitate to stand down from my conductor position to go find out what he wants. Chiron motions for me to follow and I do, walking all the way through camp and to the Big House.

We get inside and go down the hall to a room I've never been in, and Chiron opens the door, letting me go in first. The counselors from each cabin all sit around a ping-pong table, sipping on sodas and nervously chit-chatting.

"Sit," Chiron says, indicating the open seat next to Will, who must have disappeared to here after lunch. "What's going on?" I ask as optimistically as possible, determined not to let the tension of the room to get to me.

"A girl from the Hermes cabin has gone missing," Travis Stoll says.

"Ally Lark," Connor clarifies.

"And so we've decided that there needs to be a quest put up to find her, and Will volunteered to lead it," Percy says, tapping his fingers on the table. "He asked you and Katie here to come with him. Katie has said yes already."

I look at Will and then to Katie, and they both nod. Katie's eyes plead for me to say yes. "I need some adventure in my quest-less life, I suppose," I say hopelessly. "I'll do it."

"You'll be leaving tomorrow," Chiron says. "Be prepared.

**Just to clarify, Irn Bru is this popular drink in Scotland. I once had it and I hated it, so I thought I might incorporate it into this. And, you know. GO read my Hunger Games story. And thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

After we leave the Big House, I immediately punch Will in the stomach.

"Why did you sign me up for the quest?" I bellow, luckily not drawing anyone's attention since everyone is at their activities. "I just got back, Will!"

"You could have said no!" he curtly replies, reaching for his aching stomach.

"No one denies quests!" I start, putting my face right in front of his and clenching my teeth, "_No one_."

"You said you needed excitement in your life, Aria! Plus, why wouldn't I invite my two closest friends?" he asks, enraged. "And I've never been on a quest. Don't you think I deserve one after being at camp for ten years?"

I ponder this for a quick second. Will is twenty and has no idea what he wants to do with his life. Maybe he does deserve it.

Not that I'm going to admit that to him.

"Do you even know who this girl is? What she looks like?" I quip.

Wills face flushes. "Well, err… no."

"Then how in Hades are we finding her?" I put my hands on my hips.

He shrugs. "Why should I know? We haven't gotten together to make a game plan yet."

"Then you better get to it, buddy," I force out. Will rolls his eyes at my "total bogus-ness" – those are his own words from past encounters – and walks away.

I turn away from his and head back to the amphitheatre, when a sudden _Lion King_ reference hits me. "I'm surrounded by idiots," I grumble, unpleased.

When I get back to the amphitheatre, everyone shouts at me, asking me where I was and what happened. I shrug them all off and lift up my hands, still holding my flute. I use that as a baton while several people scramble to reach for their music. A unanimous agreement that we're playing the same song, and I don't even say anything.

We start the song, and I just move my arms up and down absently, counting for four over and over in my head.

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four_.

My arms start getting tired and I notice that the hour is almost over, so I cut off the whole band, telling them that we're done for the day. A few sighs of exasperation and screams of resent come out, but I don't comprehend them. I jump off the edge of the stage, gently landing on my feet. I leave the amphitheatre without looking back, and I can tell people know something is up.

I'll let Chiron break it to them all later.

Suddenly exhausted, I make my way to the blindingly gold cabin where I reside for my summers. I sluggishly pull myself up the steps and through the door to the girl's side, throwing myself down on my bed. I stare up at the ceiling for what feels like forever, taking in the strategically placed tiles that depict Apollo riding around the sun in his magical chariot.

I turn over so my head is facing my portion of the wall, which is covered with photos of camp through the years. I sit up to get a closer look at them.

One is of Will and I, myself at fifteen and Will at eighteen. Will has me in a headlock and is giving me a noogie, which I angrily glare at him for. I laugh a little.

Another is of one of my capture the flag teams, consisting of the Apollo, Hermes, Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena, Iris, Nike, and Dionysus cabins. This was when I was Sixteen, last year, after the Battle of Manhattan. It was our first game in months, but no one had forgotten how to play or the best way to win. I had reached the flag first and brought it back to our side, so everyone was cheering. In the picture, I had my arm raised by Will, much like a referee does to the victorious wrestler in a match. In the other hand was the red flag, waving in the wind. Gathered behind us were all of the campers on our team, dancing and cheering victoriously. The most notable of all the people were the Connor Stoll, who was jokingly trying to steal the flag from me; Katie, who was laughing and hugging Travis, despite their hate for one another; and Annabeth, who had brought Percy over for the picture, kissing Percy. The whole scene put together sparks past memories of all of them.

I stare at the collage of pictures, mesmerized until my sisters come into the room. "Dinner's in ten, Aria," one says, poking my back.

"Thanks," I mumble.

"What's wrong?" another sister, Madison, asks.

"Nothing," I quickly say, turning to them all. "Does it look like something's wrong?"

"Well, you're usually more-"

"-vivid," one finishes from the other side of the room.

"Maybe I have jet lag," I say, crossing my arms.

"You hate planes, though," Madison says, suspicious.

_Crap_.

"Maybe I have car lag, then," I quickly say, correcting the mistake like that's actually the reason I seem down.

They all murmur and shrug, deciding to leave me alone. They file out of the room for dinner, not saying anything else. Katie comes through the doorway, remarking, "I hear that you're down in the dumps."

I nod. "I just hate how we have no plan for what in Hades we're doing with this quest," I say as soon as my siblings are all out of earshot.

"Did you confront Will?"

"Obviously."

She shrugs. "I'm sure we'll be fine."

"Whatever."

She pulls me up and off of my bed. "Let's go get some dinner," she says, mock enthusiastic.

I imitate her tone. "Okay! Lets skip to make it more fun!"

She laughs. "Yeah, no. I'd prefer not to look like an idiot, thank you very much."

"Thank the Gods that I have a friend with as much self-decency as myself," I say goofily, walking like a monkey to the dining pavilion. Katie laughs again.

We part at the doorway, her heading to her table and me heading to mine. I sit across from Will, as always, and say, "How's it hanging, handsome?" suddenly happy.

"Like a lamp on the ceiling," he says, smiling. It seems our troubles have washed away.

Chiron stands from his seat with the big guys up front, stomping his hooves for the camper's attention. Will and I both turn our heads, and the rest of my table follows suit.

He clears his throat. "Campers, something has happened today," he starts. "First of all, we have lost a camper. She ran away or was taken without our noticing. We suspect she left a week or so ago." A murmur of confusion goes through the tables. "Second of all, a quest has been called to find her. Will the participants please stand?"

Will and I uneasily look at each other, the troubles coming back. We stand, and look towards the Demeter table for Katie, who has also risen.

"These three are going to go save Allie Lark."


	4. Chapter 4

"I got the prophecy," Will tells me at breakfast, only a few minutes before we are supposed to leave to go who knows where.

"Seriously?" I ask, enthused. I turn to see Katie at her table and wave her over. She stands next to our table, careful not to touch it, or else she'd be in big trouble.

Dionysus gives her a glare from across the room and she yells, "I'm not touching the table – you can't kill me!"

We get a few laughs from around the pavilion, but we don't pay attention. We both lean in to hear what Will tries to say over the usual noise of the meal.

"_You will go to the Black City, where a God resides_

_To discover something that runs and hides_

_Along this journey and against all odds_

_You will discover the misclaimed demigods."_

We sit for a second, letting it sink in. "The Black City?" I ask.

Katie shrugs. "No clue."

"Me neither," Will says.

"Well, that's dandy. But the thing that runs and hides, that must be Ally," I point out. "I mean, she has run off – so we think – and she is hiding somewhere that she won't say."

"But 'misclaimed demigods'?" Katie says, raising her eyebrows. "I don't even understand what that could imply."

"First things first," Will says. "We need to know where the heck the 'Black City' is."

"We could ask Chiron?"

Will nods. "We could, but don't you think we should try to do it on our own? It is out quest, not theirs."

I groan. "Leadership roles should never go to you, Will, because then we'd have to figure all these things out ourselves."

"Isn't that the point of prophecies?" Katie asks.

"So? Can't there be one prophecy where I won't have to figure anything out for myself?"

Will shakes his head. "We'll figure it out on our own."

Well, whoop-de-doo. More work for me.

I sigh, getting up from the table and heading out of the pavilion. I forgot to pack – well, it was more or less out of laziness than just forgetfulness – so I'm going back to the cabin momentarily. I size up my little area of the large room when I get in, looking for the essentials.

First things first – a bag.

After finding a red Jansport backpack that I've used all throughout my high school years, I start searching my area for other things.

Flute: Check

Golden Drachmas: Check

Extra clothes: Check

Knife: Check – you can barely go anywhere without a weapon as a demigod, you know.

Is there anything else I need?

I look around for a little bit, and then I realize I'm probably going to need mortal money as well. I dig through my duffel bag that always lies under my bed, searching through it for the stacks of cash Mom usually sends with me. When my fingers reach the crisp bills, I let out a sigh of relief, since I'm the only one who has mortal money on this quest. Will and Katie stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, so they don't need it.

I pull out about twenty of the twenty dollar bills, and stick them in my pocket. Just in case.

When I leave with my bag, I meet Katie and Will at the center of the cabins, waiting impatiently for me. "Where is she?" Will shouts, agitatedly pacing back and forth.

"I was gone for ten minutes, Will," I say, rolling my eyes at his sudden anger. "Now that the life of the party has arrived, it's time to move this crowd to the Black City!"

Katie lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank the gods. I've been itching to leave all morning."

"Let's go!" I shout, attracting the attention of several campers while marching idiotically to Half-Blood Hill, where Argus agreed to meet us. We trudge up the hill, but since I'm obviously not in as good shape as Katie and Will due to my long time away from camp, I'm tired out in a second or two.

"Wimp," Will laughs, leaning up against the white _Delphi Strawberry Service_ van that Argus is currently sitting in. "Shut up," I snap, exhausted and tired from the tread up the enormous – at least in my standards – hill.

Katie laughs at us and opens the back of the van, motioning for me to get in. I step in and settle into the flat-floored trunk, setting my worn backpack on my back and making sure I have everything with me. Will comes in and sits across from me, and I prop my feet up on his long legs just to annoy him. Katie comes in and sits next to me.

Chiron and several other campers all came up the hill with us, apparently unnoticed, to send us off to the unknown. I see the melancholy faces of my siblings, but there is a layer of eagerness just waiting to show up. "Which one of us gets to be new counselor?" someone from the back shouts, and a round of laughter goes through the gathering.

"I think you guys are responsible enough to be on your own for some time without a counselor, am I right?" Will sarcastically says, humoring them. More laughter travels around, and I join in.

_Everyone_ knows that Apollo kids without a leader are going to lead to mass destruction and several broken reeds.

Chiron shakes his head amidst a chuckle and forcefully closes the trunk door to the big white van. Argus pushes the gas pedal down and the faces of my friends get smaller and smaller, but their voices travel along, leaving our trio with wishes of luck and blessings from the gods. The van goes down the other side of Half-Blood Hill, picking up speed. In a few minutes, Camp Half-Blood is gone.

oOo

"This will be fine," Will says, and Argus pulls over to the edge of a suburban street in Charleston, West Virginia.

"Why are we-" I begin to ask.

"You'll see," Will says, a smile growing across his face.

Katie, Will, and I all pile out of the van, and Argus gives a look that asks if we'll be needing him soon. Will shakes his head and Argus shrugs, giving us a little salute and driving off in the white _Delphi Strawberry Services_ van.

I take a look at the house in front of us. It's big and has a huge yard, which is bigger that all of the floor space of each cabin at Camp Half-Blood combined. The walls are a nice white and the window shutters and doors are red. A white picket fence surrounds the property, which leads off to who knows where. A large balcony overlooks a small flower garden, which has blossoming tulips of every size and color you could imagine. I have a feeling Katie is jealous of the yard alone.

Will walks up to the front door, reluctantly ringing the doorbell but forcing himself to accept that this is what he wanted and that he was going to do it. Whatever it was.

A middle-aged woman, who looks to be about in her fifties at least, comes to the door. She has dark brown hair, with warm brown eyes like brownies, which I'm sure she bakes all the time, by the looks of it. She has on a burgundy sweater with long jeans and a white apron covering her chest and stretching down to her knees. She shuffles onto the porch, her slippers making little scraping noises while she does so.

She looks a little confused at the sight of a tall surfer-boy, a dark haired girl with flowers drawn on her arms from the car ride, and myself. But when she looks at Will she gets a sense of recognition on her face, like she knows him from somewhere. Her mouth widens and turns into the happiest smile you'll ever see, and she even starts to tear up.

"William!" she shouts, quickly pulling him into a hug, tears dripping down her face. Will pats her back somewhat awkwardly due to their height difference but is tall enough to place his head on top of hers, so he does as a gesture of care.

"Hi, Mom," he says, smiling a little at me and Katie.

She continues to sob into Will's chest for a few moments until she pulls away, regaining her composure and wiping her bloodshot eyes. "It's been so long!" she says, unable to contain the joy in her voice from coming out. "I haven't seen you in, what? Eleven years?"

_This is Will's mom_?

And he hasn't even talked to her in eleven years?

Even though I'm used to this type of crap from Will, this is surprising for even him.

**Sorry for procrastinating, but I'm a natural procrastinator.**

**Do you know how hard it is to find a Oracle and have them tell me a prophecy? These things take time, you know...**

**Thanks for waiting on me, since this is really the only story of mine that got any hits today, somehow... you people confuse me sometimes, okay? How is that even possible?**

**Oh well, whatever. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

"This is _really_ good," Katie says, stuffing her face with more of the seemingly endless chicken.

"Thank you, Katie," Ms. Solace says, who earlier revealed her name to be Veronica. "I've been making it since before William was born."

"It's true," he confirms, taking another serving. "It's like you can't stop eating it, it's that good. You're brain practically demolishes any will to do anything else until there's no more chicken left!"

"I did learn a few things when your father was around," Veronica laughs. "That man knew how to cook!"

"It obviously didn't rub off on my mom, because she can't cook for her life," I say with my mouth full of food.

"That might be because my mom was a chef before she even believed in the Gods," Will says, making Veronica smile.

This talk of the past and the Gods had been going on all afternoon. We arrived at about six-thirty and we had friendly introductions. Veronica told us to call her by her first name and offered to take us in for the night. Katie and I didn't want to make things tough for her, but Will couldn't resist. I think the food alone is just a large portion of why we're staying here.

When the chicken was done, no one could eat any more food for the rest of the night, hopefully. We all congregated to the living room, where Will and Katie sit on the ends of a long leather couch. I plop down in between them, placing my head in Katie's lap and my feet on Will's.

"So, how has camp been?" Veronica asks before a large scratching noise comes from the back door. "Oh, excuse me for a moment," she says.

Katie and I both look at each other, somewhat registering fear. Instincts overflow us and Katie reaches to her necklace – somehow the Gods managed to compress a whole sword into a tiny amulet – while I reach to my side, gripping my knife. Will looks completely calm, however. "Chill out, guys," he says. I give him a quizzical look before Veronica comes back into the room.

With a giant hellhound on her tail.

I become stiff as a board due to the little censors of danger in my brain going off every millisecond. Katie also does the same, but Will just looks happy and begins to smile. He gets up and hugs the hellhound as if they're old friends. "Who's a good girl?" he says. "You are!"

I snicker a little but still manage to keep my guard up. Will turns to Katie and me and announces that this is their pet hellhound. "Her name is Agathe, and we've had her for, what? Thirteen years?"

"Fourteen," Veronica corrects. "She was a gift from Apollo to Will before he even knew who Apollo was."

Agathe looks just to be a huge mastiff, with a dark black coat. She has a huge pink collar around her neck, which I could probably stand in and still have room to move around.

It clicks in my mind why Will and his mom have such a big house for only two people living in it. They need room for their hellhound so she could be like a normal house pet.

"She's very pretty," I say after a few moments of examination. "But _mine_ is better," I say, obviously sarcastic. They all laugh.

"They say that Percy's hellhound is the nicest one there is, but they're wrong," Will comments, stroking Agathe's fur. "I think Agathe's the best."

"She surely looks like it," Katie says, getting up to go pet her.

When I see Will looking at me, I see that he's pleading for me to accept the monster in his living room. He gives a look that says, _Do it for my mom_! Even the long face of Agathe fills me with a feeling that I should go against what I've grown up with, that monsters are bad and shouldn't be messed with, for the sake of a mortal's happiness.

I sigh and get up as well, coming over to give Agathe a big hug and saying, "Who's a cute doggy? You are! You are!"

Veronica's face breaks into a warm smile and I feel like some monsters aren't as bad as you would think they are.

The key word is _some_.

oOo

The next morning we all sit at the kitchen table, eating some cereal and whatever Veronica had put out for us while we weren't looking.

"So," Will says between bites. "The Black City?"

"Still doesn't ring a bell," I say, rolling my eyes. "It's been a day. I'm sure that I probably won't know when I have no connections to the world."

"The Black City?" Veronica asks, peeking her head out from behind the arch to the living room. "Why would you need to go there?"

Katie swallows her cereal and then says, "We're on a quest."

Veronica looks a little confused. "Is that why you came, William?"

He gets a guilty look on his face. "Not entirely. I just haven't really had any time to visit and I thought now would be good time-"

"No need for excuses, mister!" Veronica says, coming into the room. "I'll get you there. No problem. I'll get the car ready!"

She leaves out the door to the garage and I look at Will. "You are so lame, you know that, right?"

"Shut up, Aria. I've been busy."

"You could have visited any time during the past eleven years, you know," Katie reminds him.

"I know."

"Then why didn't you?"

He bites his lip. "Because I really don't want to."

"It's not like I want to live with my mom for several months, but I do it anyway!" I say.

"Think of all the events in your life she missed. Your sixteenth birthday, you finding out who your dad is," Katie goes on.

"It's not like she didn't know, guys!" he snaps. "I've been trying to protect her! Do you know how many monsters have crashed into this house in nine years?"

"Same goes for me, but I still come back anyway," I remind him.

"It's different for me than it is for you, Aria. She goes into this really extreme state of shock whenever a monster that she doesn't know comes along to hurt me. It takes her weeks to recover. _Weeks_! She can barely leave the house, let alone do everyday things!"

I feel a little bad, but still a bit peeved. We drop the subject when Veronica comes back into the room, telling us to hop in the car.

Katie and I willingly take the two backseats of Veronica's Honda Accord, and Will sits in the passenger seat.

"Where exactly is the Black City?" I ask, leaning forward in my seat after we get on one of hundreds of highways.

"Chicago. The World's Fair was there sometime in the 80's, and it was known at the White City beforehand. Afterwards, it was referenced by many as the Black City," she says, turning into another lane and taking an exit to gods know where.

I formulate a map of the United States in my brain, picturing where Chicago is. "We go through Ohio to get there, right?" I ask.

Veronica nods. I ask, "Can we go to Mason, please? You won't have to stay with us."

She gives me a questioning look but agrees. Katie and Will scrunch their eyebrows in confusion, but I give them a look that says, _trust me_.

I know what I'm doing.

_Most_ of the time.

**I got this out fast, woo! Writing two stories at the same time is hard, amirite?**

***Cough cough* Go read Cannons and Outcast by yours truly if you want to read a Hunger Games FanFiction *cough cough***

**I didn't say anything a second ago…**

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

While driving for the multitude of hours that it takes to get to Ohio from West Virginia, I fell asleep with my earbuds in and music blaring, like every other Apollo kid does.

_I feel younger. As a matter of fact, I am younger._

_ Looking down at myself, I see the same old Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, same old jean shorts and same old worn out sneakers. The only difference is that I'm protected by a bronze chest plate and helmet, I have my knife drawn, and I have one less bead that I actually do now. There's no Empire State Building with all the names of the deceased campers on the length of rope._

_ Taking a look at my surroundings, I see torn up and battered down buildings lining the streets where Demigods fight for their lives and the fate of the world, really. I see Katie fighting by a pharmacy, somehow using pepper spray from that very shop to irritate her opponents eye. I see the Gods fighting off titans in the skies, wielding their greatest weapons._

_ I see a monster ready to freaking head-butt me._

_ I don't register what it is because my brain goes into overdrive and decides that it would be great to pull out my knife and fight. My arms follow command, swiftly grabbing at my waist and pulling it out of its sheath. The monster isn't stupid, though. It slows down, seeing the blade, and instead chooses to fight like a civilized person would, drawing his own weapon of choice._

_ People don't go around head-butting others for no reason, right?_

_ I sidestep a little when he – I'm going to assume it's a he – reaches me, and I let my brain go into autopilot. The slashes and doges come to me naturally._

_ I take a look up from the battle for a moment, looking at my surroundings again. This time, I focus more on the Gods than on Katie or anyone else. Zeus, being all "Oh, I'm a man and I can do this myself", is taking on the biggest guy, his face full of struggle and determination. The other gods do the same for the smaller Titans, not creating nearly as much of a mess as the reckless Zeus._

_ I spot Apollo on his flying chariot, the sunlight bouncing off of it and into my eyes. I smile a little, still battling the monster. _My Dad is a God_, I think to myself. _I like the sound of that.

_I had never really thought about it that much. I always thought of it as that sort of thing that one-night-stand-results deal with. But I now see that Dad is pretty freaking important and that he had to leave me._

_ I'm okay with that, oddly enough._

_ I hear a little music in the back of my head, and I stop out of confusion. Sounds like… _The House of the Rising Sun_?_

_ A pain hits me in the stomach and I fall to my knees, blood pouring out of the wound that the monster left. The music gets louder in my ears and I scream out in pain while trying to get away. Someone calls my name, but whom, I don't know. The monster stands over me and I can't seem to get a clear image of his face before I black out._

oOo

I wake up in the backseat of a car, sweating from fear and all eyes on me as the result of my screams.

I almost forgot that Veronica is driving us to home.

That sounds weird. _Home_. It's certainly not what I think of home when asked where it is. I think of Long Island, not Mason, Ohio.

"Dream?" Will asks from the front seat. I nod. "More of a flashback, really. A truly screwed up flashback."

"About…?" Katie says.

"The Battle of Manhattan," I say softly, suddenly not wanting to talk.

Will understands my sorrow, too. Michael Yew went missing during that time. It was the second time in two years that we had to replace our head counselor. It hurt.

"Go on," Will says after an uncomfortable silence.

"Well, I was fighting some random monster – I couldn't tell what it was – and then I got distracted by the Gods fighting the titans. I saw Apollo up there and I thought about how that guy was my dad. _My_ dad. I was getting kind of proud about it, and then the Monster stabbed my stomach and I blacked out. That was it."

"That's was all? You're sure?" Katie asks.

"Well, there was song background music, like in the movies," I admit. "But I don't think that has to do with anything."

"You never know. Apollo could be trying to control your iTunes playlist to tell you something," Will says sarcastically.

I laugh a little. "Are we almost there?" I ask Veronica, leaning forward in my seat.

"Almost," she says, her eyes locked on the road, as if our lives depended on her driving her best.

I'm sure three Demigods could survive a little car crash. We've been through a war, after all.

Several hours, car games, and songs later, we take a turn onto the street that is home to several small, stereotypical homes. But mine is the most stereotypical of them all.

It lies on a cul-de-sac at the end of the street, standing two stories tall. The walls are covered in white siding, and the windows and doors are red. The roof is all black shingles. Yellow flowers pop up here and there around the property. It's a nice home overall, but it's not as nice as Will's.

Of course, I don't think Will knows how nice his house is anyways.

"Come, children," I say sarcastically as we all exit the car, waving good0bye to Veronica.

"You sure you'll be able to get to Chicago from here?" she asks.

I nod. "We'll be fine. Don't you worry, Ms. Solace!"

She eventually drives away and leaves the three of us to go on our little adventure all alone.

"You'd think quests would be filled with having to roof over your head and no food to eat, huh?" Will says.

"I know, right? It's such a shame," I say. "Hey, Katie! Would your dad happen to live anywhere near here so we can visit him, too?"

Both burst out laughing. "Sorry, Aria, but I'm afraid he lives in Texas," she gets out through her amusement.

I look depressed and they laugh even harder. Out of the corner of my eye I see a figure in the window of my house, and my head snaps up. They quickly scamper to the door, slowly open it, and step out into the sunlight.

Cassie Schmidt, the lead singer of a small group that opens for bigger bands but never has their own tour despite their success, is talented and beautiful. She has sandy blonde hair that I succeeded to inherit, as well as a pleasant complexion. She sports a light green sundress with a white ribbon running over her ribs, which is tied into a small bow. Although I could practically be my mother's twin, the fashion department is definitely a different story.

Both Will and Katie look back and forth between both of us in confusion while Mom carefully steps down the few stairs and skips over to me to pull me into a hug. "What are you doing here?" she says, excitement laced in every syllable.

"We're going on a ques-" Will starts, but I interrupt him.

"We're on a camp trip, and I wanted you to meet some of my friends before we left for Chicago," I quickly say, and Mom nods.

"That's so thoughtful! Well, come on in, kids!" she squeals, bouncing up the stairs and holding the front door for her guests.

"'Camp trip'?" Katie asks, confused.

I feel a pang of guilt for not telling them earlier. Or maybe it's just from not telling Mom.

"Is she against quests or something?" Will adds on.

"No… it's not that," I say. "She just can't see through the mist."

**I have no idea where to end this chapter, whut.**

_**To Orchid Blaze**_**: You have no idea how happy you just made me from your review. I love Will and Katie too (well, **_**obviously**_**)! And, lets be real, grammar is pretty tight, dawg. Am I right? (The answer is yes, if you didn't figure that out)**

**Hopefully I'll get some more chapters out soon… the key word is hopefully.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

The one thing I failed to inherit from my nearly flawless mother is her grace.

I discovered this when I was helping her set the table for dinner, and I broke about five dishes. Not only was I feeling pretty stupid for that, but I felt like something was watching us. I couldn't tell anyone, due to my mother being a mere mortal.

When I finally get all the silverware and such on the table, we sit down and dig into the food that she had somehow seemed to make in an instant. But a hungry teenager isn't one to question how food gets here, so I gladly take a helping of white rice and several chicken fingers without hesitation.

Will and Katie only make chewing noises all throughout the meal, seeing as they are probably really hungry and don't know what to talk about without mentioning Camp to Mom. Mom and I make light conversation, talking about home and how I feel about coming back to Mason for my senior year.

"What is your family like?" he asks both Will and Katie, not really directing the question towards either.

"Well, uh," Will gracefully starts, "it's a really big family. I don't know how many cousins I have because I have so many aunts and uncles. And I have a lot of half-brothers and sisters."

"That basically goes the same for me," Katie says. "Except I have substantially less siblings than Will."

Will and I share a knowing look while Mom nods, interested. "Do you visit them often?"

"Oh, well, I don't really leave—" Will starts before he cuts himself off. "—my college dorm…"

"College?" Mom asks. "Which one?"

Will has to think for a minute before answering. "MIT?" he warily says, hoping it makes sense.

"Wow! And what are you majoring in?" she asks, propping her head up with her hands and leaning towards him.

He looks at me and Katie while saying, "Greek mythology?"

Mom nods, smiling. "That's so neat! And what about you, Katie? Do you ever see your family?"

Katie comes up with a lie off the bat. "I go to boarding school in New York, and then I go to camp all summer. Therefore I really only see my family on holidays and during spring break and whatnot."

Mom nods, listening closely. She knows that I go to a camp during the summer – which camp, she will never find out – so hearing about a camp doesn't surprise her. "And you go to camp, too, Will?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," he says, his mouth full of chicken. "Every summer since forever."

"Aria loves it at camp, apparently," Mom says. "She tells me you guys do arts and crafts and play music all the time. Plus, I hear you all play a mean game of capture the flag!"

We all share amused looks around the table, and I can barely keep in the laughter from the looks on their faces.

"Yeah, those are the few pleasures of camp," I say. "And there's swimming and rowing and all that kind of athletic stuff, too, Mom. So don't go worrying about the state of my health, because I'm just fine."

"It sure doesn't look like I need to worry, so I won't," she laughs, poking be in the ribs. "No fat or bones - just superior Schmidt muscles."

Will and Katie burst out laughing. I laugh too, of course, but not to as great of an extent as them. It's as if they've held in all of the laughter they could have had this year and let it all out at this specific time, triggered by my mom.

We have some more food and laughs before dinner ends, and Mom tells us to go upstairs and get some rest. Needless to say, we didn't get any rest.

Katie and I get to share my room while Will – that lucky, lucky boy – gets the guest room all to himself. Mom goes to bed at about eight o'clock, since she has work tomorrow. A few minutes after the lights are all out, Will tiptoes over to my room, where Katie and I wait for him.

When he comes in, he carefully shuts the door and whispers, "Okay, we need to get out of here."

I nod. "I know. I feel like I'm being watched by everything in this house, which is new. I usually feel totally normal, and now I don't. So we definitely need to make up and excuse to get out of here and get a move on."

Katie agrees. "Do you have a car to drive? We could just drive without her having to come along and question us about every single thing."

I think a bit before remembering that Mom has two cars: one mini-van and one sports-car. It's pretty obvious by her usually-childless lifestyle that she drive the sports-car. "We have a mini-van I could drive us in."

"That would be good. We could drive to Chicago in that and then we could find Ally and get this prophecy over with. Sounds good?" Will says.

"Yeah. Let's do it!" I say, talking in a normal tone instead of in a whisper by mistake. I hear a little groan coming from the outside wall of my room, and I freeze. _Sounds like a monster to me._ "On second thought, let's get out of here. Like, now."

Will and Katie gets their stuff at the speed of light – only joking, of course – and we go downstairs, where I find the mini-vans keys and write a quick note to Mom.

_Dear Mom,_

_ We got called out of town on short notice by the camp counselor… hope you don't mind but we took the minivan with us. I'll get it back to you whenever I can._

_ Love,_

_ Aria_

I feel satisfied that my eyes haven't gone crazy because of the dyslexia that ran through my mind when I wrote that note; I put it on the counter in clear sight so she will know what happened to us.

We tiptoe to the garage and Katie and Will get into the back seats, the automatic doors dreadfully slow behind them. I put the key in ignition and open the garage door, hoping that Mom doesn't wake up before we have the chance to make our escape. Luckily, she doesn't.

After a few minutes on the road, Katie and Will start talking about what we're going to do when we get to Chicago. I join in the conversation and we all decide that we're going to try to find Ally's house first to see what her mom has to say about her daughter.

"Onwards, then!" I say, and Katie and Will laugh.

That basically gave the minotaur that was silently following us the green light to smash into the back of our car.

**Whooooooooooooop!**

**So, I haven't posted lately, blah blah blah, [insert sermon on why]**

**Two stories in-progress = hard to write…**

**Anyways, thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll get the next chapter up soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

I start screaming at the top of my lungs as we serve off the road, our minivan plunging into a forest full of narrow, tall trees that do nothing to cover you even if you're playing a simple game like hide and seek.

Katie and Will join in when we crash into a tree. _Hard_. I try to get myself out of the seat by means of unbuckling my seatbelt, but my head decides that it wants to bang into the steering wheel instead. Blood drips down my face but I don't feel anything because my adrenaline has more important things to worry about.

What could be more important than potential death from blood loss or brain damage?

A Minotaur.

Will and Katie jump out of the car and Katie comes around the side to help me out. I groan a little as she pulls me out of the seat, and sets me on the ground. I get up to stand, pulling out my knife. Katie whispers something to her necklace and it extends into a sword. Meanwhile, Will stands right in front of the huge, unattractive Minotaur, sword in hand.

"Hey, ugly!" he yells.

The Minotaur turns to Will, angrily making roaring noises and charging at him. Katie runs up to Will's side, ramming into him and knocking him out of the way just as the Minotaur would have hit him. They exchange a glance and both nod, having a silent agreement to do whatever they think they're talking about.

Wills looks back at me and I know that he wants me to come to the front line. I slowly walk over, my head throbbing with each step. I groggily put up my knife as protection and await the Minotaur's next move.

He takes a chance at Will again by charging towards him. Will tries to retaliate but loses his balance and falls ungracefully onto the ground. The monster turns to Katie and I, and we exchange a look that says one thing, plain and simple:

_Run_.

Katie goes to the right, and I go to the left, confusing the Minotaur and causing him to become really angry. Katie and I run in circles around him for a bit, and Will joins in eventually. I even take the chance of potential squish-age by going under him. We nod at each other, and when I put up my knife again, we all begin to slash at the Minotaur.

He screeches in pain, sinking to his knees to try to get a closer reach to us without having to move his bleeding legs. We slash at him some more until finally one of us stabs him a seemingly random spot and the Minotaur dissolves into golden sand, mid-scream.

I guess training for all these years really has paid off.

oOo

"The car's done," Will says. "There is no way we can fix it without spending a fortune."

I sit in the driver's seat, a little defeated. What are we going to do now?

Then an idea strikes.

I jump up, pulling a drachma out of a pocket of my backpack. I spot a nearly full bottle of water in a cup holder, and I grab that as well. I dump the water onto the ground, making a puddle before I throw the drachma in. "Camp Half-Blood, Chiron," I state clearly.

The image of a horse man's butt fills my eyes and I almost scream.

Never again will I Iris message Chiron.

Despite my mental scarring, I shout, "Chiron!" which makes my head throb painfully.

He turns around, staggering a bit before seeing a picture of a bloody Aria Schmidt in a forest right in the middle of his office. "How's the quest?" he asks, eyes full of concern.

"First monster just attacked and we're left with no means of travel. Next train station must be miles away," I say emotionlessly, due to my current pain. "We need help."

"Have another drachma?"

"Yeah, I do," I reply.

"Call Hermes. Tell him I sent you and that you're looking for his daughter." I nod. "Will do, centaur. Have fun at happy camp!" He chuckles before waving his hand through the mist, cutting us off.

I pull another drachma out of my pocket. I'm just about to throw it when Will grabs my arm. "Now, wait a minute," he says. "We're about to talk to a _God_ right now!" He sounds a little fearful, even though Hermes is considered pretty easy-going.

"I'm sure we can handle it if we battle freaking monsters all the time," I say, shrugging off his fear and the fact that he is the leader of this quest. I look to Katie for reassurance.

"I agree," she says, grabbing the coin from me and tossing it into the puddle. "Mount Olympus, Hermes."

A tall man who looks vaguely like a jogger appears, running on a treadmill. He sees us almost immediately and irritably stops his exercise, approaching us. "Yes?" he asks, tapping his foot with impatience.

"We're on a quest and we need transportation," Katie says after a moment of silence.

"Chiron told us to talk to you," I add.

His face brightens up at the mention of Chiron. "My old friend sent you? Well, of course I'll help you! Hold on a second." He disconnects and all of us look at each other, confused.

A burst of wind comes out of nowhere, rustling the trees and lighting up the forest. "Sorry that took so long," Hermes says, brushing some leaves off of his Nike t-shirt. Not the goddess, but the brand. "Manhattan to Ohio is a long way."

"So, where are you going, Aria?" he asks me.

That's funny.

_I never told him my name_.

Must be a godly instinct to know the names of the Demigods.

"Chicago," I say, nervously. The Gods may just look like normal people, but knowing that they're immortal just makes you want to impress them a bit more. "We're looking for _your_ daughter."

"Chicago?" he asks. "_My_ daughter?"

The three of us nod. "Ally Lark," Will says. "She ran away or was taken – which one? We don't know."

Hermes nods, thoughtfully placing his fist on his chin. "And you're supposed to go to Chicago? I don't remember her living right in the city, but she lives awfully close."

We all look at each other. I guess we actually need to know where her house is before we can get there. "Can you take us to her house instead?" I ask.

"Sure," he says. "Well, I specifically can't. I have stuff to do. You know, being a God and all never leaves time for rest or play," he huffs. "But I'll provide transportation. _Temporary_ transportation."

I nod. He takes out his cell phone, which then proceeds to morph into a caduceus. Then he creates a pair of shoes out of thin air. Red converse with the letter H on the side. "Try them on," he tells me, and I do, unfortunately having to sit on the dirty ground to do so. I stand up and nod at him. "They fit." He then says, "Maia," and they sprout wings.

Real freaking wings.

"Just hold onto Aria and you'll be fine, er-" he starts before realizing he doesn't know their names.

"Will and Katie," Katie says, nodding. "We'll be fine."

"They'll take you wherever you want to go," Hermes says. "And, with that, I'm off! I have some monster infestation in DC to worry about – although I'm not exactly sure they're the monsters I'm talking about…" he says before disappearing.

"Well, let's give these babies a try," I say, motioning for them to hold onto me somehow. "Uh, I'd like to go to Ally Lark's house. Er, please?"

We're all a little confused until the shoes shoot out from under me, flying faster than I ever thought possible. We're up in the open skies in seconds and Within an hour or so I can see Chicago's skyline.

**Whoop! Score for me, FanFiction! I thought I was going to procrastinate this chapter, but I didn't!**

**Somehow.**

**Anywhooo, I'd just like to tell you that I'm probably not going to post anything after this Saturday until the week after. Because, you know, spring break! I'll be partying and tanning and all that jazz!**

**Lol, jk.**

**I'll definitely be trying to write, but I won't be able to post (boohoo….). So I'll try to get another chapter out sometime this week, but if I don't then don't get your hopes up! (Sorry, sorry, sorry…)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

Katie looks up at me in horror. "Okay, we need to stop. I can't hold on much longer."

Will nods in agreement. "My arms feel like jello."

I sigh, exasperated. "Guys, I bet we're almost there! Tough it out!"

"We flew over the suburbs a few minutes ago," Will points out. "That means she lives all the way on the other side of Chicago."

"Which also means she's only a minute or so away," I challenge. "We did fly from Mason to Chicago in about an hour, you know."

Katie grumbles, "Fine. Have it your way."

I smile triumphantly. As I predicted, the next wave of suburbs hits us in a minute. "What did I tell you?" I shout over the wind. "What did I just freaking tell you?"

"Just land already!" Will says, agitated. "I can't hold on anymore!"

"That's up to the shoes," I say, nervously looking down at the red converse. "I haven't done anything yet!"

Katie suddenly bursts out into a little screech. "Oh my gods, what if we don't land? What if these shoes are defective like the ones Luke gave to Percy?" We all wince at the sound of Luke's name.

That traitor.

That hero.

"I think you guys might have to jump," I say warily. The ground suddenly gets closer and closer, but we don't slow down. "The extra weight might make it harder to land!"

Will and Katie exchange nervous looks before agreeing with me. "We'll jump on three," Will says.

The ground gets closer and closer.

"One," Will starts.

Closer.

"Two," he says shakily. Their grips get looser.

We're almost twenty feet away from the ground now, and I start sweating with anticipation. It's getting harder and harder for them to hold on.

"Three!" Will shouts, and both him and Katie let go. They go tumbling to the ground, safely landing on the grass of somebody's yard. I assume its Ally's.

Now, one problem.

How am _I_ stopping?

I frantically look around, seeing if there is a tree to grab onto or something. Nothing is around me but open skies and green grass.

Gods. Why was I given the shoes?

_Well, it's been nice knowing you, world_, I think when the ground is only three feet away.

But then the shoes come to a sudden stop, and I blink a bit out of surprise.

"Aria, are you okay?" Katie says, rushing over.

I laugh a bit out of relief. "Do I look okay?"

"Note to self: never let Aria wear flying shoes. Never again," Will says, as relieve as I am.

"Thanks for the love, bro," I say sarcastically. "I'm not letting you wear the flying shoes too. So don't get your hopes up."

Katie looks down at the shoes, a little curious. "How do you get rid of the wings?" she asks. "It's not like Ally's family will think they're weird or anything, but the mist might make them look like hotdogs attached to your shoe, for all we know."

I look down at them, shifting a little. Something at the back of my mind whispers to me the word _Maia_.

"Maia," I reluctantly say, and the wings instantly shrink until they're not there. "Well, what do you know? My mind was right."

"For once," Will teases, and I shoot him a ha-ha-so-funny-look.

We all settle down and take a look at the house in front of us. The walls are a tan color and the roof is made of some pretty nice orange shingles. The windows and front door are rimmed with white paint and you can see plush curtains through the glass.

"Pretty nice," Will says.

"Coming from mansion-galore," I add.

"But it's kind of…small," Katie says.

"We've been living in multistory houses for the past few days. A one story house is going to look small in comparison," Will points out.

He then proceeds to stroll up to the door, casually knocking. Katie and I exchange a glance and follow him. "Our job is to find Ally and head home, not criticize her living situation," Will says.

It doesn't really occur to me that it's about ten at night until a college-age guy in a plaid robe comes to the door. He examines us for a moment before catching a sight of our Camp Half-Blood t-shirts. He then immediately closes the door on our faces with no explanation.

"What?" I ask. I raise my voice so the guy can hear me. "Do I smell bad or something?"

Will looks shocked for a moment but gains his composure. He then knocks on the door again. "Excuse me," he says as the door opens, sticking his foot between the frame and the actual door, "but we're looking for someone."

"Sorry, but I can't help you," the guy says, struggling to close the door without touching Will. "You're just going to have to come some other time. Oh, how about…never!"

"We need to see Ally Lark," I say forcefully, taking the door in my hands and shoving it open. The guy looks shocked.

"Well, you aren't getting to her," he says, crossing his arms over his chest. "Go back to Camp."

"Not without Ally," I snarl, a determined look washing across my face.

"I would give you the facts about why you can't have her, but I don't think Dad would like that."

Katie gives him a questioning look. "Dad as in…?"

"Hermes?" he sneers. "No. _My_ dad."

A man sticks his head out from another room. He then sees us and all the color drains away from his face. "How can I help you?" he asks nervously, like we're going to attack him.

Before we can say anything, he scurries over to the door and shoos away his son. "Go inside, Ryan," he mumbles, and his son does his bidding.

"We need Ally," Katie says.

"Not happening."

_ Jeez_. What is wrong with this family?

"Why not?" I ask, a little irritated.

"One: she's not here. Two: we don't need any more trouble than we already have. Three: she never wants to go back there," he says, emotionless.

The three of us exchange looks. "Why not?" Will asks when the rest of us don't.

The man hangs his head and mumbles something.

"What was that?" I ask. "We can't hear you."

He lifts his head and I can see a look of stress on his face. He takes a deep breath.

"She just can't remember Camp."

**Hey. Guess what?**

**I'm back!**

**And hopefully writing more soon, since I've been working on other stories and drafts for new ones, blah blah blah.**

** Thanks for reading [and putting up with lack of a chapter for so long]!**


	10. Chapter 10

"Can't…_remember_ Camp?" Will says, incredulous. "How is that possible?"

"It's a real story," Ally's father – well, step father – says, a sad look on his face. "She hasn't mentioned it at all. She's in such a state of bliss from forgetting, too."

She's _happy_ about forgetting the best place on earth?

"How exactly did that happen?" Katie asks, a suspicious look on her face.

Ally's dad motions for us to come in. "I'd prefer not to speak of it outside," he says in a low tone, barely reaching our ears. "I don't think it's safe."

_Whatever you say, man_.

We follow him into the den, where we all sit down on brown leather couches. Pictures of Ryan and Ally cover the walls. Both of them on the beach, the sand in their toes. Ryan hugging a Hooters girl while Ally gives him a disgusted look. Younger Ryan and Ally hugging each other, their father and a beautiful woman – who looks just like Ally – right behind them.

"So," I say, drawing my attention back to the task at hand. "Ally?"

Her dad sighs. "So, her mom is pretty close with Aphrodite," he says.

"And…?" Katie asks.

"Aphrodite asked her to be her handmaiden, and she obviously agreed. She's going to be up on Olympus for a long time."

"And this has to do with Ally because?" Will asks, leaning forward on the couch.

"Because Ally was a happy person at camp – she was carefree, active, and surrounded by friends. But then the whole war in Manhattan happened, and she saw a whole bunch of things she didn't want to see. Including her boyfriend," I'm surprised he didn't flinch when he says that, "being killed."

Silence. I reach up to my newest addition to my Camp necklace, wondering which miniscule name is that particular boy's.

"She was depressed and she couldn't take it," he says, looking down. "Aphrodite told us that she would give us something we really wanted in exchange for Ally's mom. We didn't want to see her so depressed anymore, so we chose to give that gift to her-"

"And she chose to lose her memories of camp," I finish up.

He nods.

It takes a moment to really comprehend it. We're going to fail on our mission. She doesn't need to come back if she doesn't remember camp, right?

But what about monsters? She's in danger, whether she knows it or not. She'll figure out something is up and she'll just go through the whole thing again.

"I'm sorry, but there is nothing you can do for her," her dad says, looking up. "This is where she wants to be. You'll have to accept it."

I look at the others. They are still thinking, staring at random pictures around the room.

"We understand, sir," I say before they can say anything. I stand, and they look up at me, eventually doing the same. "We'll be going now," I say before leading everyone else out of the room and getting out of that house in one second.

"So…what are we going to do now?" Will asks, gently brushing his feet against the pavement as we walk off of the property.

"Don't worry, guys," I say, a mischievous smile plastering itself across my face. "I know what to do."

oOo

**Ally's POV**

"What is the square root of two-hundred fifty-six?" my summer school teacher asks.

A little voice in my head whispers, _dekaéxi_. I raise my hand and say just that. Only, you know, in English. "Sixteen?"

"Very good, Ally," the elder lady says, smiling a yellow-toothed smile at me.

I can just feel myself squirm.

A few minutes later, we're out of class and it feels like there's a tremendous weight lifted off of my shoulders. "I don't remember you being this good at math," my friend, Tina, says. "_Especially_ at stuff we learned in _sixth grade_."

"I know my times tables," I shrug, speeding up to get to the cafeteria.

"Then why are you at summer school?" she asks, matching my pace. "If you're _so_ good at math…."

"I felt like I needed to get some help with the concepts we learned this year."

I also need a sandwich. I'm starving.

I suddenly have to go to the bathroom, so I tell Tina that I'll catch up with her later. I turn around and head back down the hall towards the bathrooms.

Let's just say that my school isn't known for their first-class bathrooms.

Upon arrival, I see a girl fixing her hair in the mirror. She must be here for one of the other classes, because she certainly isn't in mine. I think I would have noticed someone with perfectly messy blonde hair, and nice, blue eyes. She has a rope necklace around her neck with eight beads on it, all assorted colors and shapes. She turns to me and smiles, like she's waiting for me. Which, of course, she couldn't be. I mean, I've never met her before.

I see that she has a silver flute with pictures carved delicately carved onto the side. I frown a bit. Why does she have that?

Before I can ask why, she holds up the head joint under her lips and her fingers glide across the keys with ease, lulling me into a nice, peaceful sleep.

oOo

**Aria's POV**

"I knew there was a good reason for bringing this thing," I say, gesturing to my flute while walking backwards to the car. I'm facing Will and Katie, who are both holding up Ally in a standing position.

"I can't believe that you saw a flyer for summer school on our way out of her house last night," Katie says, looking a bit satisfied with our mission's success.

"Your eyes get pretty impressive when you start at music for hours. You have to notice type of note, articulation, tempo markings…." I trail off, turning to face the car that we stole this morning.

If we're going to kidnap a person, we might as well steal a car while we're at it.

I unlock the car and sit in the front seat. Katie sits in the car and helps will get Ally into the seat next to her. He then comes up to the passenger side and sits there.

"Do you think we should contact camp?" he asks as I back out of the parking space.

I shrug as I turn onto the main road. "We can stop for that if you want. And we need to play more music for Ally until we get to camp or else she'll wake up and not be very happy."

Katie glances at the sleeping beauty next to her. "Yeah….Well, in that case, we're stopping, calling camp, and you're sitting back here with Ally. None of us play the flute," she points out.

"At least, not as well as you," Will, a fantastic trumpet player, huffs.

"Fine by me," I say, eyes locked on the road. I constantly turn my head and check for monsters, but, luckily, nothing is there.

Imagine having to keep a useless body safe while protecting yourself.

That would be _great_, right?

Several minutes go by, and we're all still intact. No monsters. No interruptions.

It seems like this quest is now going our way.

**Oh, American viewers, you flatter me.**

**Okay, well, I've been in crazily-write-Hunger-Games-story mode for the past two days, so, I'm giving myself props for actually figuring out how to write this chapter! (And, you know, if you congratulate me as well, I totally won't blame you…)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

_Five hours into the trip, _I note as I glance at the car's dashboard for the millionth time. Katie is out cold in the passenger seat, along with Ally – who has only woken up twice.

We've tried car games. We've tried DVD's – I conveniently took into account the long ride ahead of us and spun for a car with a DVD player. We've even tried corny jokes. But time hasn't flown any faster, no matter how much we want it to.

_ If only we could support another person on Hermes's shoes…_

I look down at them. They've really grown on me. The color brings out my tan – one that I've acquired from years of camp – and they fit perfectly. Maybe I can convince Hermes to let me keep them….

I shake my head, smiling at the silly thought. He'd never do that. Gods are arrogant and get what they want. And these shoes are certainly _not_ going to stay with me for long.

I pick up my flute, which hasn't been disassembled in hours, and start to softly play a tune. I've become good enough over the years to be able to play by ear, so I follow along with what is on the radio – _Every Teardrop is a Waterfall_.

Then the unthinkable happens.

I miss a note.

Aria Schmidt doesn't miss notes.

Wills head jerks up in a bit of shock. "Eyes on the road!" I shout before he has the chance to turn around to chastise me. Katie wakes up quickly, her eyes searching the car. "What just happened?" she asks.

"Schmitty missed a note," Will says bitterly, a little bit of disappointment showing on his face. "Dad would not be the happiest guy right now."

"It's one note," I retort, "not the end of the world!"

"Same thing," he mumbles, slouching down in his seat. I huff and turn my attention to the outside world.

We pass by Lake Huron, and the waters are dark and rocky. It starts to rain, which totally fits my _eerie_ mood.

Yes, that was a Great Lakes joke.

I look forward after a bit, trying to see where we're going. We take the closest exit, which will hopefully make this dreadful trip faster. By the image the rearview mirror shows, the car behind us wants to make this drive faster too.

I focus on the car. It's fairly nice – not brand new and not too upscale. The white car has one streak of red on the side. Probably from painting a house or something.

But the person driving…she's not a person.

She's a _sphinx_. Her face is unusually pretty, which brown hair and blood-red lips. But her body is coated with fur. She has her paws – literally, not figuratively – on the wheel, clumsily driving. Just the sight of her large body barely fitting in the small car makes me want to burst out laughing.

My urge to laugh is diminished when I see her staring me straight in the eye and smiling evilly at me.

"I'd drive faster," I whisper to Will, "now."

"Why?" he asks, trying to turn around in his seat.

I turn his head so that he's looking at the road. "A Sphinx is behind us. She's been following us for hours."

I can see his face pale a bit as he speeds up. Katie tries to look back but thinks better of it.

"We need to get Ally out of here," she whispers, as if the Sphinx can hear us.

"We'll probably shake her off of our trail if we get a few cars between us," I offer. "Then we'll be home-free – for now."

The Sphinx takes this as an opportune time to hit the back of our minivan with her car.

We all jerk forward, and then exchange a look. A few nods go around and before you know it, we're out of the car, and I'm holding up miss Sleeping Beauty. Katie has her sword gripped in her hands and Will has one, too.

The Sphinx somehow manages to get all of her huge body out of the car in record time, much to my surprise. She's taller than I expected – at least six foot, if not more.

"Hi, kids," she snarls. "Ready for a test?"

"I thought school was _over_," I groan, adjusting Ally in my arms.

"Think of it as summer school," she offers. "If you answer this question right, you're free to go. Answer it wrong, I eat you all. That sounds fair, right?"

I almost snort.

"There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first," she states. "Who are the sisters?"

Will and I both expectantly look at Katie. She's the smart one.

"Can we have a life-line?" she nervously asks, looking over at Ally.

"Afraid not," the Sphinx says with sympathy. "So sorry."

I try to think about the riddle. But, honestly, that just sounds like the most messed up situation I've ever heard of.

And that's coming from someone who is related to the Olympian Gods.

I take another look at Katie, and she looks clueless. Will looks the same.

"We don't know," Katie finally says, sounding hopeless.

"That's too bad," the Sphinx says, getting closer. Katie and Will put up their swords, and I back up a bit. "I guess I get to have dinner tonight, then!"

She sprints over to us on all fours, and Katie and Will start to attack. Swords fly everywhere and I can barely follow the fight from my distance.

After a few minutes, Katie desperately calls out to me. "Go back to camp!" she screams.

"What?" I shout, dumbfounded. How can I leave my best friends alone to fight a Sphinx?

Well, I'm not really doing much to help them anyways….

"Use the shoes, Aria!" Will adds. "We can handle this!"

"But the quest!" I desperately scream. "I don't want to risk you guys not coming back!"

"_Do it_," Katie says, "before she gets to Ally!"

I look down at the girl in my arms. She's sleeping peacefully as if nothing is wrong.

I immediately feel for my flute in my back pocket and my knife at my waist. I can protect her.

"Alright!" I respond. "Be careful!"

I whisper _Maia_ to the shoes, and they sprout wings once again. I start to rise in the air, and the Sphinx quickly takes notice. Luckily, when she reaches me and jumps up to grab my feet, I'm well out of jump distance for even someone as tall as her.

"Careful is my middle name!" I hear from Will before he and Katie become the size of ants and the Sphinx becomes the size of a really overweight ant.

I sigh, telling the shoes I want to go to Camp Half-Blood. They immediately start moving in the direction we were traveling in by car.

I look down at Ally, who is still sleeping. The thought of her waking up overwhelms my mind. _What if she falls? I can't reach my flute, fly through the air, and hold her up at the same time!_

Paranoia does not suit me well.


	12. Chapter 12

What do you do when you're carrying someone for so long that your arms feel numb?

You keep holding onto them, of course!

Well, I don't have the pleasure of putting Ally down because I'm, you know, thousands of feet in the air, flying across the country.

We've been up here for maybe two hours. I've been dealing with the pain by means of singing – no one can hear me, right?

You see, although I'm Apollo's daughter, I wasn't given the greatest voice in the cabin.

"Working too hard can give you a heart attack-_ak-ak-ak-ak-ak_!" I sing loudly, passing the time. I go from Billy Joel to Spice Girls to Maroon 5. I sing anything that's worth the oxygen – just not as well as you think I would.

In maybe an hour, I can see substantially less light than any other area I've flown over. It's practically pitch black.

Home, sweet home.

I'm still on my singing frenzy, so I decide to make my final choice the best choice: _the Final Countdown_.

I'm getting close to the area of the song where I don't remember the words, and I'm luckily extremely close to the ground now. My shoes stop for me just like they did at Ally's house, landing softly on the grass of Camp Half-Blood's forest. I say Maia and the wings disappear.

I contemplate putting Ally down but decide against it, since I'm probably really close to the Big House and I can just drop her off there. I start walking, struggling to hold her up in my arms.

_What will Chiron say when he finds out Katie and Will are still in the unknown?_ I ask myself.

I start thinking of approving Chiron answers and disapproving Chiron answers when I hear a rustle in the bushes. I turn my head, thinking of what it could be.

_Aren't there monsters out here?_

_ What day is it?_

Oh, Gods.

It's Friday.

Someone jumps out of the dark growth holding a bow and arrow. They are clothed with bronze armor and a helmet with a red plume. I get one look at them before they shoot me in the arm with an arrow.

I shout out in pain, and they run over to me. "I'm so sorry!" they say. "I thought you were a monster or from the other team!"

"For all you know, I could be a monster from the other team," I try to joke, but now I'm on the ground, Ally – who is much heavier than expected – on top of me.

And, you know, there's an arrow in my arm.

The person quickly pulls out the arrow and I brace for pain. "Some of my team is coming this way. I'll get Chiron after they get here."

I nod. "Good plan."

As predicted, several people in matching sets of armor and helmets come along, and the person leaves. The first to recognize me in the darkness is none other than Annabeth Chase.

"Gods," she says. "I am so sorry. We told him to go ahead and-"

"It's alright," I interrupt. "Really, I'm fine. Just a little pain."

"Are you sure? We could get you some Ambrosia or-"

"_Really_. I'm _fine_ for now," I persist. "I'll live with a little wound."

She slumps a bit but stops pestering me.

Chiron arrives a minute or two later, parting the gathering crowd of red and blue plumes. With the help of a few other campers, we peel Ally off of me and place her on Chiron's stallion-backside. We don't speak except for customary things, like how I'm feeling and greetings and whatnot.

We enter the Big House, which hasn't changed in the days that I haven't been here. We go to the recreation room, and I take a seat in Will's spot at the ping-pong table. Chiron puts Ally on a chair in the corner, and all the other counselors file in, taking their seats.

"Where's Will?" someone asks. I don't respond.

Chiron repeats the question. "And where is Katie?"

"There was a Sphinx," I say, taking in a shaky breath. I had this all worked out in my mind, but now the pressure is on and it doesn't look as heroic as I thought it would. "She gave us a riddle and it was either get it right or die. We didn't know, so the three got into this whole full-on battle. I was keeping Ally safe, and they told me to get her out of there. So I used Hermes's shoes and got the Hades out of there!"

Chiron stares at me. "So you don't know where they are."

I shake my head. "I'm afraid not."

There is a moment of silence before Travis Stoll speaks up. "Hermes's shoes?"

Connor joins in. "You have to let me borrow those!"

I give them a wry smile. "I'm afraid not, boys," I say. "Hermes wants these back." Their faces fall.

"How long has Ally been out?" Annabeth asks.

"She's been waking up every two hours or so. I've had to use this to keep her asleep," I say, pulling my flute out of my back pocket.

Chiron gives me a questioning look. "Why would you need to keep her asleep? She's been training for battle most of her life."

_ Uh, oh._

This is the part I was also worried about telling.

"She…doesn't remember," I quietly say. "She had Aphrodite wipe her memory of camp."

Drew looks a little more shocked than the rest of the group. "Did she agree to come back?" she asks.

"How could she? She doesn't remember it," I say. "We found her and brought her back here for her safety."

Chiron seems to be the only person getting my idea – well, from the look of it, since he's nodding. She's safer here and more miserable than out in the world, where she can get mauled to death by several different types of monsters.

"We'll deal with Katie and Will tomorrow," Chiron decides. "Go to your cabins. It's late."

Everyone gets up and heads out of the recreation room, including myself. I find myself next to Annabeth, all the way in the back.

"So, that's the quest?" I ask. "The prophecy doesn't even seem complete."

She smiles knowingly. "It may not make sense now, but the prophecy will be fulfilled when the quest is actually done. And, Aria, quests aren't over until everyone comes back, dead or alive."

**Oh, how I love FanFiction.**

**So, it seems like this story is getting more popular [since usually my Hunger Games stories are more than this one], so thanks for that!**

_**Kaleidoscopic Skies: **_**The answer to the riddle was day and night… the two were feminine in Greek so they called them sisters. My expert research told me that in mythology, those Sphinx ladies like to ask that or the man riddle in the Battle of the Labyrinth, so…. And, yes, I'm getting to the unclaimed demigods part soon. Don't you worry!**

_**Puppetmaster1711: **_**I'm American, but I've been to England a few times. So, I guess that might be you're unable to tell. xD**


	13. Chapter 13

Will and Katie haven't come back for days.

I've been able to keep myself occupied enough – my siblings voted me to be temporary counselor, so I've been working on schedules and whatnot. I've been trying to avoid Chiron for fear that I have let him down by abandoning my friends.

The last time I saw him was the morning after we got back, when Ally woke up and I didn't use my flute to put her back to sleep. She was sleeping in the infirmary, very content-looking. But when her eyes opened, you could see three emotions running through her – shock, recognition, and hatred.

All of those were, sadly, directed at me.

She jumped up from her bed as soon as she saw me, pointing her finger at me and shouting, "What did you do to me?"

"I-I didn't do anything!" I exclaimed.

She made a noise of exasperation and stormed out of the room, Chiron trotting after her.

You'd think the sight of him would mean more to her.

The Hermes kids have been giving me weird looks all week. I don't know if someone told Ally what is going on or if they all agreed not to tell her. But one thing is for sure – they're looking out for her because she's their sister, whether she knows it or not.

I'm standing in a silent trance, unaware of what is going on around me.

That is, until my cabin mates all start shouting at me to start conducting.

Oh, right. I'm in the amphitheatre, conducting per usual. Someone passed out new music while I was gone, so I'm practically sight-reading while they have days of experience with this song.

I lift up my arms, actually using a baton to conduct instead of my trusty flute. I can't bear to look at it. It burdens me with thoughts of Ally, Katie, and Will.

I start the song, not bothering to look at the score in front of me. I just move my arms up and down, occasionally stretching out notes and indicating dynamics. But other than that, I'm as still as a statue, thinking.

Where are Will and Katie?

Are they alive?

If they aren't, am I the permanent counselor for Apollo's cabin?

Oh, Gods. I hope not. It's enough work to run it for a week. But the rest of my life?

No.

The song ends, and I decide that I'm not up for another one. In fact, I feel a little sick. "See you all later," I say, leaving the amphitheatre's wondering whispers behind me.

I have to go talk to Chiron.

I spot him on the porch of the Big House, playing pinochle with Mr. D. I guess talking to him with Mr. D will have to do.

"Chiron!" I say as I reach the front steps. "Can I talk to you?"

He sets down his cards on the table. He nods at Mr. D, who doesn't seem to mind losing his opponent. "How can I help you?" he asks, walking away from the Big House with me in tow.

"What are we going to do about Katie and Will?" I ask, a bit of despair in my voice. "I want them back!"

He frowns. "I was hoping you'd be up to another counselor meeting, so we can all discuss this."

I nod. "Anything for my friends. I just want to know that they're safe, at least!"

"Good."

oOo

Not even an hour later, all of the counselors are sitting around the ping-pong table, drinking out of enchanted goblets and chatting with the others around the table.

"How are you?" Annabeth asks me, sitting down next to me with Percy on her other side. She immediately reaches for his hand, lacing her fingers through his.

"Fine," I mumble. I honestly feel like Zeus hit me with his master bolt and then decided that I was the new bathroom for Camp Half-Blood just to torture me, but why tell her _that_?

"How's being counselor?" she continues, her eyes never leaving my face. She's searching for something.

"Great," I lie. I hate it.

Before she can ask me any more questions, Chiron sits at the head of the ping-pong table and everyone stops talking.

"Campers," he starts, "we are obviously here to discuss the disappearance of Will Solace and Katie Gardner. I propose that we send out another quest to find them."

That was a pretty down-to-business way to put it, if you ask me.

"Who would go on this quest?" I ask.

"You, obviously," he says. "And, since this isn't an official quest, but a search party, we'd need one other to come along."

"Ally!" someone says. "We can re-jog her memory by sending her on a quest!"

I bite my lip. The last time I saw Ally, she looked pretty angry at me. I don't think she'd want to support my cause.

"You haven't told her?" Annabeth asks. "She doesn't know about this camp?"

"She knows," Travis says. "She just doesn't know that she ran away or why."

"I've been trying to talk to her, but she won't listen," Connor adds.

Great. I'm going to have to explain to her about her parents and everything. I'm sure that won't get me maimed.

Chiron reluctantly agrees to allow her to go. The conversation suddenly turns to capture the flag.

"We are so kicking your miserable cabin's butt tonight, Chase!" Clarisse says, taking a smug swig out of her goblet. "That flag will be ours!"

Capture the flag? I don't even remember negotiating teams.

"In your dreams, Clarisse," Annabeth says, rolling her eyes.

"We have Apollo, though," she gloats. "Long distance defenders make everything easier!"

Oh, cool. We're going to be stuck on the sidelines.

Like always.

"Who else is on our team?" I ask.

"Hephaestus, Poseidon…most of the smaller cabins."

"Oh, okay," I say, a little bit relieved. No Hermes cabin, no problem.

oOo

I search through the chest that lies in front of my bed, pulling out my armor and whatnot for tonight's game.

I haven't used any of this stuff all year, so I might actually need to have myself re-fitted. Again. This girl won't stop growing.

I pick up my chest-pate, strapping it on before walking over to the camp's Forge. It started raining sometime during the counselor's meeting, so the shoes Hermes let me borrow are squeaking loudly in the watery grass.

Why should I give them back if he doesn't express a need for them?

Plus, these shoes are _comfortable_.

I come across the building that looks like a mash-up of a prairie house, a building that went through the Pompeii accident, and a traditional Greek building. If those are the first things that come into your mind, then you know you're at the Forge.

I open the large, ashen door to find myself right in front of Jake Mason, counselor of the Hephaestus cabin. "What can I do for you?" he asks upon spotting me.

"Hi, Jake," I say. "I need a new breastplate."

I hear a few snickers of Jake's siblings in the back, undoubtedly from myself saying breast. I shoot an annoyed look at no one in particular and roll my eyes.

"Don't mind them," he says, shaking his head. "Kids can't handle maturity. And I've got a few over there. You can go try them out – leave your old one over there, too."

I look in the direction he indicated and thank him before checking out the breastplates. I try one maybe three before finding one that fits me perfectly. It's bronze-colored and plain, just like anyone else's, but it doesn't make a difference to me.

I leave behind the old breastplate, sticking the new one under my arm. "Thanks, Jake!" I say before departing.

"No problem, Aria," he says, smiling.

I'm not even three steps out of the door before I get nose-to-nose with someone.

Ally Lark.

"Hi," I say, sheepishly.

"Hey," she says, looking behind me at the Forge. "Do they have breastplates?"

I nod. "A whole pile of them."

She looks back at me. "Good. That's the only thing I need."

"You have a weapon?"

She pulls out a sword from the sheath at her side – one that I didn't notice.

"Oh," I say. "Brand new?"

"New to me, at least."

I have a feeling that's not actually the case, but I don't say anything.

"I'll see you on the field," she says, going around me and heading to the Forge.

I turn to look back at her. "Yeah," I whisper. "See you."

**Okay, so I'm so excited for this next chapter. You have no idea how eager I was to get this chapter over with just so that I could write the next one!**

_**The Labyrinth of Suffering**_**: Post-TLO, pre-TLH. I'm too lazy to incorporate Gaea and all that, so I didn't! [I'm so inspirational, I know] And, geesh, choose a name and stick with it, woman! xD My mind can't process so sudden of changes….**

**Thanks for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

"Red team is on the south side of the forest! Blue is in the north!" Chiron shouts, and the campers gathered around him cheer.

I follow the sea of red-plumed helmets to the south side, not socializing like the others. Clarisse eventually falls back from her position up front to talk to me.

"What's the plan?" I ask her.

"So far, there is no plan," she admits. "I was hoping you could help me quickly make one."

Clarisse asking for help?

She must not be feeling well.

"What magic items do we have on our team?" I ask, pondering what we could do with them.

"Your flute is all I can think of," she states, looking around as if to detect other magic items. Her eyes then land on my feet.

I smile mischeviously. "We'll figure something out."

oOo

The horn sounds, starting the game of capture the flag.

The Ares cabin, along with the few other cabins, races off to the east and west sides of the forest. I stick behind for a bit, making sure that our two best bowmen are well-stocked and ready to go.

I head down the middle of the forest, occasionally weaving around the trees that block my path. Within a few minutes, I can see the creek. I get as close to it as I possibly can and draw a bit of attention to myself. Several campers on the blue team come over to me, ready to strike.

Of course, they haven't learned anything from the past games.

I whip out my flute, playing a slow, sweet lullaby. The music does just what I want it to do – they fall asleep on the spot.

_Excellent_, I think to myself as I cross the border.

I hear the sound of footfall on all sides of me, and it kind of worries me. I know my team is nearby, but I could be giving myself up too easily. To reassure myself, I duck behind several trees on my way to Zeus' Fist. When the flag is in plain sight, I pull out my dagger.

Things might get ugly.

I duck behind another tree, searching the woods for any sign of my team. Surely enough, a red plume is visible. I subtly wave to the person – who turns out to be Percy Jackson – and he nods in understanding. He nudges whoever is next to him, who sticks their head out from the woods as well.

It's Clarisse. She sees me and makes a gesture that suggests our plan. I nod at her, preparing myself to execute orders.

I whisper Maia and Hermes's shoes sprout pure, white wings. I don't specify where I'm going; I just politely ask to have control over where I'm going for a bit.

I zip out of the trees on foot, surprising the two guarding the flag. I get close to one of them before shouting, "Fly!", causing me to take to the skies. I go up a few feet before coming right back down to kick him onto the ground.

The other guard calls for help, and I laugh. I come at him with my dagger, the rest of my team circling around Zeus' Fist while I draw him away from it. I slash at the air, trying to frighten him. He tries to knock me out of the sky, but I'm too fast.

Correction – the _shoes_ are too fast.

I ward him off long enough to knock him into the creek, but he still calls for reinforcement. Before I can process it, a sea of blue helmets pours out of the trees, migrating towards Zeus' Fist.

Towards _my_ team.

I forget about the guard and turn myself around. The trees are a blur and I'm back with my team in seconds. But the other team is already here, battling my team as if they were soldiers in war.

Clarisse knocks down Mr. D's son, Pollux, and I call out to her. "Need some help?" I shout.

"Oh, Gods, yes!" she says. She lifts up her arms, and I use all my strength to hold onto the giant named Clarisse as I get her to the top of the mound of rocks.

Upon setting her down, she scrambles for the flag, pulling it out from between the crevasses of the rocks. Anyone who is sane would steer clear of Zeus's Fist, but some still tried to climb it and get Clarisse.

Clarisse lifted up her arms, and I flew down, picked her up, and we were on our way. But her weight was too much for the shoes. We were going down and we were incredibly slow. At this rate, we'd be shot out of the sky in seconds.

"Drop me!" she yells, realizing our situation.

My face contorts out of terror. "Are you sure?"

She shrugs. "Ambrosia and Nectar will fix anything. Just get the flag over to our side!"

I give in.

I close my eyes before releasing my grip, which I immediately scramble for again. That would have worked if Clarisse wasn't already feet below me.

I forget about her, pure determination overcoming my feelings of guilt. I manage to get myself to fly higher, and start zooming towards our side of the forest.

I take a moment to observe our team's situation. Several campers are fighting at the creek. I can see a girl wielding a bow and arrow, training it on her target. She smiles, satisfied with her aim, and shoots the arrow.

Which lands in the bottom of _my_ shoe.

I freak out, causing myself to do a flip in the air. I frantically try to keep the flag from falling out of my hands whilst attempting to pull the arrow out of my foot. I can feel the metal tip touching the sole of my foot, and I _really_ don't want to walk on _that_.

I free the arrow, throwing it down on someone from the other team. I will the shoes to fly faster, and they do. I aim my feet so I'm heading feet-first at the ground. My landing is a somersault that turns into a run. I hold up the flag, since I'm on our side and all, but I have other things on my mind.

That girl was on _my_ team.

_ What's her deal?  
><em>Almost immediately, campers surround me and cheer. But I ignore them, dropping the flag on the ground and causing them to silence before I run towards the camp.

She must have escaped.

I break out of the forest, running through the camp frantically. _Maybe she was a hallucination? Maybe I'm paranoid because Annabeth said my quest wasn't over?_

I start to think of possibilities of what is going on before seeing a face in the doorway to the Big House. _Oh Gods, is she going to tell Mr. D about something I did once that he _doesn't_ know about_?

I run after her, bursting through the front door and down the hall to Mr. D's room. I can _feel_ her there. _I'm not crazy_.

I slow down when I approach his door, carefully opening it. Inside is Mr. D, whose head turns to me from the girl who shot my foot. Sitting next to her is Ally. "Ah, Aria," he says, a bit unamused. "It seems you have a visitor."

"Visitor?" I gulp.

He motions to the girl. "Well, it's not every day that Hera comes to visit you, right?"

**So, I've been trying to think of a way to end this chapter all week. And now I've done it!**

**And, I feel like this isn't my usual quality of writing, but I'm working several drafts for several new stories I want to do in the future, so that's my excuse. **

**Excuses are lame, I know.**

**And I'm getting to Katie and Will, people. They'll be back very soon. [insert mischievous smile here]**

**Thanks for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

My head flicked back and forth between Mr. D and Hera. "Wait, what?"

"You have a visitor," Mr. D repeats, and the words seem to leave more of an imprint in my brain.

Hera stands up. Before my own eyes, she shifts from the average teenage girl I first saw to your average mom. Gold ribbons grow in her hair and her Capture the Flag armor melts away to reveal a simple white dress.

She turns to Ally, who immediately rises. "Nice to meet you, Aria," Hera says, pulling me into a hug like a mother would.

"Nice to meet you, too," I mumbled, a little shocked and a lot confused. "May I ask why you're here?"

Hera pulls away from me, giving me a sympathetic look. "Only to talk. Nothing bad. Just talking."

"With Ally, too?" I ask, glancing at her.

"Both of you," Hera confirms. "I want to speak to _both_ of you."

She then leads both of us outside, onto the porch of the Big House. She takes a seat at one of the tables, motioning for both of us to do the same. Ally sits across from me, with Hera to her right.

"I can imagine that things are tough right now," Hera says, touching our arms reassuringly. _She's there, and she wants us to know it_.

Thoughts of Katie and Will swim through my brain, and I push down the emotions that come with them. "Yes, ma'am."

"And I'm sorry to tell you this, but it will get harder," she says, her tone sad and dreadful. "No one knows about family problems more than I do, honestly. It's not easy with your situations."

I look at Ally, whose head is down and her fists clenched. She's probably thinking of her mother's absence, or her brother being so, well, un-godly.

That leads me to start to think about myself. Most demigods tell their family that they're demigods. Me? I make up stories of my summer for my mom and lie to her about everything.

So, yeah; you could say we have family problems.

"I mean, Zeus is always flaunting himself to mortals and never gives me any attenti-" she cuts herself off. "Never mind. I just want you to know that I'm watching over you two. Not only are your home situations terrible, but your fathers? Oh, children, I will have to give them a talking-to when we're all together back in Olympus."

The mention of our fathers causes Ally's head to jerk up. "What about our fathers?"

"They're just ignorant and careless. They can't admit to their mistakes," Hera simply says, making it sound like they lost to a carnival game. Nothing surprising.

_Were we just called mistakes by a Goddess?_

Harsh.

"Now, girls, I have to get back to Olympus. I have some matters to discuss with a specific pair of step-sons," she suddenly says, getting up from the table and walking away. "Tell Mr. D I say thanks for the time!"

She heads over to the entrance of camp. Ally makes a noise of annoyance and heads on after her. Meanwhile, I hit my head repeatedly on the table while no one is looking.

I'm a mistake. My life is a mistake. My family is a mistake.

That's something I'll tell my friends when I go back to school – _I'm Aria Schmidt and what I did this summer is learn that my life is a mistake!_

oOo

The next morning is the morning Ally and I are to leave camp to find Katie and Will.

A few people came to Half-Blood Hill to see us off – mostly counselors, though. We didn't feel the need to spread the word to the whole camp that we would be leaving.

Travis and Connor Stoll stand around Ally, talking her over things that she should do – they were re-jogging her memory so she wouldn't freak out, essentially. I sit alone in the trunk of the camp's van, looking out over Camp Half-Blood.

Activities seem to be going on as if nothing was happening. It is almost like two people weren't possibly dead and two people were leaving to find them – or their lifeless bodies. Camp was cheery, but reality was not.

I keep thinking of Will and Katie. Their laughs, their leadership, their lives. They always seemed to have this sort of optimism and self-sacrifice that I can't seem to find in myself.

If I don't find it before I come back to Camp Half-Blood, then I might as well not come back at all.

Chiron tells us that it was time to shove off, which gratefully pulls me away from my thoughts. I stand up in the van, pulling the door to the trunk down until it closes. I then sit in one of the plethora of seats, as close to the back as possible. I set my bag on my lap and adjust my shoes from Hermes before getting too comfortable.

Within a few minutes, Ally is sitting in a seat as well, waving to Connor and Travis as we start to drive away. The others wave to me, but I don't return the gesture.

Only a few more hours until we're in the great unknown.

**Sorry for the long wait! And that this chapter is kind of short. But I feel like I got enough across in this chapter, so it'll do for now.**

**I promise the next chapter will be longer!**

**Thanks for reading, everyone!**


	16. Chapter 16

I don't know what makes me want to go back to West Virginia. Honestly, I know Will wouldn't put his mother in danger like that, but it is as good as any other place I can think of to start.

Argus drops us off on the side of the road. I take a look around before stepping out of the spacious van – it looks like we're in an average suburban town in the middle of Gods-know-where. I thank him quickly as Ally comes out of the van. Then, he gives us a wave and leaves us in the middle of unknown territory.

"West Virginia?" Ally says, wrinkling her nose.

"West Virginia," I confirm, taking off in a random direction. Eventually, I'll find the way to Will's house. "Will lives here."

Well, I _think_ he lives here.

"If you're wrong, I'm never coming with you anywhere," she says, following. "This is probably the worst date ever."

I glance at her. She is really getting on my nerves. "Look, if you don't want to be here, you better start running!"

"From what?" she snaps back.

"Either to Argus's van or away from me, because you are really, really…" I trail off, thinking of the appropriate word. "You're a _skýla_!" **[A.N.: If you're going to try to translate that, don't bother…. The spelt out version doesn't translate back into English. Just know that it's mean and go with that!]**

Ally's brow furrows. I guess she understood that.

She comes up to me and stands on her tip-toes so we're nose to nose. It's kind of scary, the way she looks at me. She looks almost like she's a child of Ares for a second.

After a few tense moments, she says, "I know you are, but what am I?" She then walks away, as if her comeback wasn't immature at all.

I stare at her retreating figure for a moment before throwing my hands up in the air and screaming. "Wait until a monster comes along and snaps your neck! Then you'll wish you weren't such a brat!"

Ally throws a dirty look my way but keeps on walking. I don't even care.

_I don't need her, anyways, _I think, going towards a familiar road.

It's almost like I have a GPS built into me. I know what's on each road, where the roads are, and if there are any by the same name in other locations. I haven't looked at a map in years, too.

I come across a familiar house with white walls and a red door quicker than I expected. Behind the house I hear the barking of Agathe the hellhound. I feel a smile coming on.

I go through the gates and knock on the front door. "Just a minute!" I hear someone yell. The door opens and Veronica stands in front of me.

Her face starts off as a show of confusion, and then happiness. "Aria!"

"Hi, Veronica," I dully say. "Is Will here?"

Her smile turns into a frown. "No. Why? Is he missing?"

I nod weakly. "For a few weeks. We got what our quest asked for, but he and Katie had to be left behind for me to finish it."

Veronica looks like she's trying to hold in all of her emotions. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't help."

I stand with a robotic Veronica for a moment in silence. Agathe barks from the backyard, and I cover my ears. Then an idea dawns upon me.

"Can I have Agathe for a bit?"

"What?" Veronica asks in shock.

"Agathe. Can I borrow her for my search?"

She shrugs. "I don't see why not."

I smile and give her an awkward hug, thanking her profusely. "Agathe!" I call as I walk to the backyard. "We have a few friends of yours to find!"

oOo

**Ally's POV**

I almost immediately regret leaving Aria. I may not be the happiest camper with her, but I have no freaking idea where I'm going. And Argus is nowhere in sight, so that option is out.

I start feeling a rumbling in my stomach, so I search through my backpack for something to eat. Nothing. Do I have money? Nada.

I lean against a nearby building's wall and slide to the floor. _Great. Just great._

A big shadow comes over my face and I squint to see what it is. _Maybe a truck_?

Not even close. It's a monster.

oOo

**Aria's POV**

I ride through town on Agathe. Everyone on the streets turn their heads to look at me and point, saying something along the lines of, "Isn't she a little too young to drive a monster truck?"

Sometimes I don't even want to know.

Now, I may be an angry little demigod, but I'm also a responsible demigod, so I'm on a search for Ally before taking off into the sunset.

Literally. It's getting dark.

A few minutes of search turns out to be fruitless, but I press on. In an hour, I'm pretty agitated, but I still don't stop.

_How big can one little town in West Virginia be?_

I tell Agathe to stop. I press my face into her soft fur, silently praying. _Oh, please, whichever God listens to the prayers of little demigods, lead the way to Ally. Seriously, I'm tired. Can you please just show me to her and I'll do the rest?_

I look up to the sky, kind of expecting the sort of thing that happens in movies. Maybe something will drop out of the sky.

I'm hopeful.

I groan when nothing happens. _Thanks for nothing, buddy!_

It is that moment when I hear a cry from someone just down the street. Agathe's ears perk up and so do mine. "Onward!" I yell, and Agathe starts bounding towards the noise.

I slide off of Agathe when she comes to a stop. I quickly pull my dagger out of my waistband, and assume attack positions.

What lies in front of me is just what I wanted to see, kind of: Ally on the ground while a monster leans over her and laughs.

**So, I'm a lazy person. Did you know that? Now you do!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

I take a second to register that she's in danger, and then instincts kick in. I charge at the monster, an Empousa.

Now, I may not have the best reflexes for someone who trains day and night every summer, but this monster was much, _much_ worse. It tried to roundhouse kick me, but having a donkey leg and a bronze leg, that was fairly difficult. Neither foot even touched me as I got closer and closer.

As I start to jump around and attempt to stab the Empousa, I take in its looks. It looks just like a cheerleader – I bet that makes for a funny scene to any mortals passing by.

Ally gets off the ground, a little dazed but perfectly fine otherwise. She pulls a dagger of the sheath at her waist and prepares to back me up.

The Empousa finally manages to push me down to the ground, and I land on the concrete which a grunt of pain. It cackles like a real cheerleader would, but its voice suddenly stops when Ally stabs it in the back. The Empousa disintegrates into yellow sand and blows away.

I get up and rub my butt – that fall hurt. "That's my girl!" I say to Ally, patting her on the back.

"Whatever," she mumbles. "Let's just get this search over with."

_No need to be a brat when I compliment you,_ I think.

"Where to next? Obviously West Virginia is a bust." Ally folds her arms in front of her and irately taps her foot.

"Michigan," I blurt, not even sure where the thought came from. "The Great Lakes. We were there when they told me to leave them."

"And how would we be getting there?"

"Uh, Hellhound. Duh."

Ally eyes the huge mastiff behind me. "I am _not_ getting on that dog."

"We're not exactly going to go on a plane, either," I challenge, "unless you want the greatest source of information on this trip to be barfing and on meds for headaches."

Ally groans. She's lost this round, and she knows it. "Fine. But we get plane tickets home."

I inwardly cringe, but agree.

oOo

Michigan is really, _really_ far away.

Hellhounds don't move as fast as shoes. But shoes don't hold multiple people unless you're able to hold them. Therefore, we took two days to get to Michigan.

Lake Huron is where Will, Katie and I met the Sphinx, so that is the first place to go. Its gray and rainy, which totally messes up my hair, but that's beside the point. All that matters is the quest.

Well, to _me_, that's all that matters.

"It probably wouldn't be raining if we came here first."

"That looks like the beginning of a beautiful mustache, Aria!"

"Look! Your relatives! Zoo animals!"

Ally is _really_ annoying. She's almost as annoying as Michigan is far away.

"Ally, _shut up_!" I scream amidst walking through a forest beside the lake. "We're kind of looking for missing people, and we don't want to scare them away!"

Ally is quiet for a moment. "I think you might be doing a better job of scaring them than I am."

"For Gods' sake," I say, throwing my hands up in the air. "If you don't want to help me look for my best friends who are also very important at camp, then sit and don't do anything stupid!"

"Why should I care about camp?" she retorts. "I don't even like it there!"

Something breaks inside of me. "Well, that would explain why you wanted to leave so badly and erased your memory and got us into this mess!"

I storm away, expecting Ally to not follow, but she does. "What?"

"You got all heartbroken over your dead boyfriend – who was only one of several to die in the Second Olympian War – and you ran away to your mom. Your mom happened to have been abducted by Aphrodite to become her handmaiden, though, and she offered you a favor. So you asked for her to wipe your memory, and she did!" I shout at her.

"So you're blaming me for the death of my boyfriend and not being able to take it?" Ally asks, anger rising.

I sharply turn to her, my face red. "Do you know what happened to the rest of us during that war. A lot of my siblings died. I _saw_ it happen." I take a shaky breath. "We lost our counselor, and I was there when we did. He went on the Williamsburg Bridge and Will and I were behind him. Some monster killed him and tossed him into the river!"

"So, we've both seen people die. I'm justified, then!"

"That's not even close to the point I was trying to make," I say. "The point is that the rest of us didn't abandon our home when we saw bad things happen. You're the only one who bailed."

Ally's expression changes from her hard, angry one that she normally sports to a softer, sadder one. _I've gotten to her_, I think a bit guiltily.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to find my best friends," I quickly say to avoid any more confrontation.

I walk farther into the forest, dagger drawn. Every little sound makes we flinch and change directions, but that internal GPS in my mind leads the way. I know where I'm going on instinct.

Before long, I'm exhausted. I sit with my back against a tree, my head down so I don't get raindrops in my eye.

I feel a little bad for all that I said to Ally. And then I left her. What kind of person am I?

I pull my knees towards me. The whole Michael Yew thing is fresh in my mind now, and I feel a bit bad about that, too. Will and I didn't tell anyone what we saw – especially not to Percy. He and Michael were becoming good friends, and we thought it would kill him.

I'm drawn away from my thoughts by the sounds of footsteps. My head shoots up, my wet hair hanging in my face.

"Aria?" someone calls.

"Thanks the Gods!" another exclaims.

Before I can turn to see who the people are, the answer comes to me as they both pick me up and hug me.

_Katie and Will are alive_.

**This took a bit of time to put together due to my incorporating older things mentioned in the story as well as evens from the real PJO books. But I'm satisfied, so yay!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	18. Chapter 18

"Hey, Chiron," I say to the centaur in the Iris message. Despite my decree to never Iris message him ever again, I decided earlier that it would be good to call him, no matter how traumatizing it would be.

"Aria," he greets. "How is the search?"

"Well..." I say, motioning for Katie and Will to step into his lone of vision. "I think I might have finished it."

Chiron's eyes went wide at the sight of the two dirt and scar covered demigods. "This is fantastic!" he exclaims. "But...where is Ally?"

"She's sleeping," I fib. "I wouldn't wake her up. She gets cranky when you do!"

"Alright," he says. "How are you two holding up?"

Will looks to Katie to speak. "Well, we were able to eat nuts and leaves and whatnot. Meat was hard to come by, but we killed a-"

"Hold on," Chiron says, holding his hand up. "Before you go on, I need Aria to speak to someone."

I step forward. "Let me at them."

Hera's familiar frame steps into view. "Aria, I have great news!" she sing-songs. "I talked to your dads and they want to meet you and Ally on Mount Olympus. I'll be there to help you around and whatnot, make sure that you both are alright, and everything will be just fine!"

It takes me a moment to realize that she is referring to our last conversation. "Today?" I ask. "We're in Michigan, though."

"Planes, honey," she says as if I don't hate them. "They go fast."

"Alright," I say. "Ally and I will be there as soon as possible."

_If I can find her, that is_.

Chiron, Katie and Will all continue their conversation and I politely excuse myself. I frantically run around the forest, looking for Ally, but there is no sign of her around. The GPS in my mind tells me which way to go, but the direction is constantly changing.

I mumble thanks to the creature and continue my search. I eventually find her sitting under a tree, looking thoughtfully at the sky.

"I found them," I say, breaking the silence. Ally jumps out of her skin.

"Dandy."

"And our dads summon us to Mount Olympus."

"I'm not going."

I sigh. _She always has to be difficult, doesn't she_?

I pull my flute out of my back pocket at play a tune, making her fall asleep. I pick her up and say the magic word, Maia, to my flying shoes, taking off. _I'll call Katie and Will later_.

oOo

After the long-but-not-so-long flight to New York, I wake Ally up. She doesn't seem angry or anything. "Predictable," she mumbles.

I guess I knock her out a little too much.

We avoid monster activity on the city streets before coming to the Empire State Building. Standing right outside is a woman who looks like she could be both of our moms. "Hi, girls," she trills. "Ready for a great view?"

I immediately know that she is Hera. Ally just goes along with it.

Hera takes us inside and into the elevator. The bellhop doesn't even question us. Hera inserts a card into the appropriate slot, making the button for the famed 600th floor appear. She presses it.

We waited and waited, and finally the doors opened to a narrow stone walkway over Manhattan. Hera walked across them without fear, but Ally and I were much more cautious.

There was no talking while we went through the Greek streets. Hera didn't make comments like my mother certainly would about how some of the houses needed to have more attention I their lawn or something. Theres a great sense of tension among the three of us.

We reach the huge white and silver castle at the top of the mountain. Inside, only two of the twelve famous chairs were occupied. I recognized the first guy as Hermes. The other I assumed was Apollo.

They are both having a rapid argument in Greek. I catch a few words here and there, but nothing sticks out.

Finally, the acknowledge us. "Sons," Hera says, "I'll leave you alone."

I almost want to protest. Hera sort of made me feel safe in a motherly way. But I let her go out of the throne room.

"Aria, Ally," Hermes greets. "Good to see you all in one piece."

Neither of us chuckled. Apollo gave the joke a pity laugh.

"Let's get to the point," Apollo says, " because my chariot needs to fly soon and I dot have a lot of time. We misclaimed you both."

I stop breathing for a moment. _This can't be happening_.

All my life, I've felt safe and happy with the Apollo cabin, and we've all had that family bond. I fought for my family, too. I guess that went to waste.

I don't know why this is such a surprise to me. I mean, hello, it was in the prophecy and everything! I just never thought about what would happen if it was me. If I did, I certainly didn't think about having to come up to Mount Olympus to hear the news.

Hermes gives me a sad smile, which I don't return. I don't want to talk to him right now. _Or ever._

I bet if I had stayed back at camp instead of going on this stupid quest, I wouldn't have to be here.

Everything sort of makes sense now. How Hermes knew my name, why he easily gave up his flying shoes, why he hasn't taken them back. And Apollo never seeing me, unlike most of his children?

_It makes sense now_.

"I understand," I softly say, a tinge of misery audible. Hermes's smile turns into a frown.

"It's not that I don't love you, Aria," he says, patting my shoulder, "It's just that I made a big mistake. And I would have corrected it if Apollo had let me." He shoots a disdainful look at his half-brother. "He may be a loose, charming guy, but he's really big on pride."

I nod, my head down. "It's okay."

"Now, I'm sure we could make some arrangements at camp for you to stay where you are, if that would make you happy," Hermes babbles. "I mean, you could be one of them, but you aren't. Sometimes people hit the gene jackpot and get musicianship without the help of Apollo…."

I stop listening. I sneak a glimpse at Ally and Apollo, who are conversing as if nothing is wrong. I suppose not, since Ally doesn't remember all the times she had with her cabin.

"I'll move to your cabin…Father," I awkwardly say.

He looks at me in shock. "Really? Well that was easy."

I lean closer to him, whispering, "Yeah, well, I don't exactly want to live with Ally, so this is my way out, you know?"

Hermes chuckles. "Quite the jokester. Just like your mother."

I almost forgot that he and my mom were partners at one point.

"Why did you choose my mom? I mean, you couldn't be honest with her. She can't see through the mist or anything."

Hermes smiles. "She was beautiful, had the voice of an angel, and she was funny. She also made me feel welcomed and wanted. What more could a God ask for?"

I smile. My mother was _still_ all of those things.

After a few more minutes of conversing, Ally and I say our goodbyes to our newly-found dads. I feel strangely better about this strange phenomena, and I guess Ally does, too.

Before I close the door to the Mount Olympus throne room, Hermes shouts one more thing at me.

"You can keep the shoes, Aria."

I can't help the smile that comes to my face.

**I'm on a roll! And, I hate to say it, but this is the last chapter before an epilogue. I'll have that out soon enough!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	19. Epilogue

**Will's POV**

By the end of the summer, it's almost like Katie and I were never gone. We've been caught up, we burned our burial shrouds, and everything is back to normal.

Well, as normal as you can get at a camp for demigods.

Chiron shouts, "Set!" and the row of Apollo kids pull back the bow strings on their bows of various shapes and sizes. We're all ready for Chiron to give us the signal to go.

"Shoot!" he shouts, and we all release. Load, draw, release. Load, draw, release. We continue this cycle until Chiron stops us.

"Good shooting. Take a break."

We all disperse around the shooting range, some people eating snacks they smuggled into training while others just sit and talk. I find my way to the girl with sandy blonde hair who is playing with the eight beads on her necklace.

"Aria," I say coolly. "Miss shooting with us?"

"Not really," she jokes. "I don't have to have you rubbing it in my face when you get a bulls eye and I don't. In my cabin, I'm the best."

I laugh. "It's a special talent of mine, I guess. Rubbing things in people's faces comes naturally."

"Speaking of natural talents….You know those contests we used to have at the beginning of each summer to show off our abilities to each other?" she asks, a sly grin coming across her face.

"Yeah," I reply, crossing my arms in front of me and waiting. The faint memory of myself healing bruised strawberries comes to mind. "Let me see what you've got."

Before I can even think, Aria is up in the air and on the ground, going around me in random paths. I can't keep up. "I can run and fly faster than you can!" she taunts.

I laugh. _She's won this round_.

oOo

**Katie's POV**

"So, are you going home this year?" Aria asks me. "I could visit you all the way down in the Lone Star State."

I chuckle and shake my head. Ever since the end of the quest, Aria, Will, and I have all been committing all of the state's nicknames to memory.

I feel like after being in the wilderness for a few weeks, dodging monsters and trees, that staying at camp this summer would be better for me. Aria may be able to go home, but I don't want to.

"No," I reply. "I guess you'll just have to be in the Buckeye State while I'm in the Empire State."

Aria laughs. "Well, I'll Iris message you if I need you."

"Well, since you obviously need me a lot, I think you'll use up all your drachmas before the first month of school ends."

Aria playfully elbows me. "Oh, Gods, shush!"

oOo

**Ally's POV**

"Hey, there, Al," Will says after archery practice. "Getting the hang of archery?"

"I guess," I reply. "It's pretty easy, actually. I guess that's what former training does to you, and you don't even know it."

I hate to say it, but Will and I have gotten really close after Aria and I came back from Mount Olympus. Well, we'll never be as close as he and Aria are, but that's not what matters.

Every day at camp has been great. People are nice, the training is hard, and capture the flag is awesome. The Apollo cabin might not be as well off without their former sibling and her flying shoes, but we still manage to go on.

I don't know how I could have ever left. Heartbreak is one thing, but deserting the one place I feel safe in is another. Whatever came over me back when I ran away is gone.

Camp Half-Blood is home.

oOo

**Aria's POV**

On the first day of school, our first teacher of the day let us tell each other what we did this summer.

Some kids stood up and said they did nothing. Others traveled. Nothing seemed even close to my crazy beginning of a summer.

When the teacher calls me up to share, I stand up at the front of the classroom, and state, "I went to Mount Olympus this summer."

My teacher looks at me and asks, "So, you went to Greece?"

I smile a bit as my hand instinctively starts to play with the new bead we got at the end of this summer. It's shaped like the shuffle sign you'd see on an iPod, and it represents Ally's and my own misclaiming.

"You could say that."


End file.
